Stereotypes.

This video interview on children clearly shows that they have not only learnt gender roles and stereotypes but are committed to these stereotypes. The video mentions that by age four or five, children begin to show rigid standards of what they believe is appropriate male and female behaviour.

One of the responses that I found interesting was that of the second child interviewed. He said he would never be a girl and when asked what boys are like he replies with “I don’t know”. In the next question “Are (boys) different from girls”, he agrees. This meant that even though children are not able to give a definition of what “boys” are, they are certain that boys and girls are different.

In the second part of the video, the children give stereotypical answers when asked to identify the doll which is more likely to carry out a certain activity. Such gender stereotypes are being instilled in us from such a young age. Children as young as 4 years old are aware that girls put on “stuff” and that boys are “stronger than girls sometimes”. I feel that the children in the video assign themselves gender roles based on what is perceived as acceptable behaviour.

The video does not highlight any difference in communication styles of males and females. This could be because at such a young age, communication styles are presumably similar across genders. I feel that as the children grow and act according to what the stereotypes allow them to, they tend to form communication styles that are different for males and females.