ctional scenario above, gender socialization begins very early in life. Society has accepted such stereotypical things as baby boy blue and baby girl pink to help identify the sex of a child. Heaven forbid the little Joey looks like a girl or b aby Michell

But Toby didnÕt think so. Toby made a decision to stay androgynous and it has caused some very interesting results. Everyw here Toby goes identity comes into question. Is Toby male or female? Toby is neither. But thatÕs not possible. Yet it is. Think about what you do everyday and how much of it relies on gender and then think about Toby. What public restroom do you go in? What kind of clothes do you wear? What store do you buy them in? What colors do you buy? What letter is after the word sex on your drivers license? How does Toby answer these questions? ThatÕs not the point. The point is why does Toby have to a nswer these questions? Because this is what we have determined to be socially correct. There are two sexes, male and female and you must be one or the other. How can there be an in between? Such a person should have no place in our culturally biased s ociety.FEMALEÊEXPLOITATION As I briefly mentioned earlier, advertisers utilize female images to sell products. Societ!

ize this and following ChodorowÕs theory, will refuse to perform a lot of chores in an attempt to become more masculine.GENDERÊANDÊTHEÊMEDIA Another aspect of everyday life that is highly influential in gender socialization is the media. What we see on television or at the movies, what we read in the newsp aper or in magazines, what we see on billboards or hear on the radio are all very significant on how we form a opinion on gender identity. Media publishers have very successfully learned to ÒplayÓ to an audience and are extremely successful in communicat ing with the audience they wish to reach. Advertisers are the biggest example of this concept. Society is very apt in recognizing images seen in commercials and printed ads and viewing them as socially acceptable behavior. For example, beer companies w ill target the twenty to thirty year old male audience and include scantily clad women enjoying their favorite beers. Ironically, popular womenÕs magazines also use beautiful !

y associates beauty with the female and we are more inclined to pay attention to a beautiful woman presented to us on a screen or a page in a magazine. But can this be more harmful to a society than good. Recently in my womanÕs studies class we were involved in a student panel discussion regarding this topic. The presenters literally filled a wall with images taken from magazines and ne wspapers and each of the photographs were of beautiful women endorsing some product. Everything from lingerie to Coca-Cola utilized a female image to attract attention to their ad. This doesnÕt just stop in advertising either. A documentary viewed in t he same class entitled ÒDreamWorldÓ, exposed

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ron Parker, Everyw Toby, Lincoln Logs, , Jesse Raphael, Feminine Personality, socially acceptable, male female, Nancy Chodorow's, gender identity, identify sex child, blue baby, sex organs, gender socialization, baby girl, identify sex, sex child, hundred fourth grade, dressed blue,
Approximate Word count = 1785
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)