Gender development is important in that it develops an important part of our identity. Our identity is partially defined by how we perceive ourselves with respect to our peers and gender plays a major role in that self-perception.

One of my earliest memories of my gender development was when I wanted to go with my mom to the mall to get food and she insisted on taking my sister instead. She wanted to buy jewelry and clothes for my sister and promised she’d take me another time. I didn’t realize it at the time, but she’d deliberately separated us because she felt a “girl’s night” would be better instead of dragging me along to shop for things that might not have been of interest to me. I didn’t find out what they went to the mall for until after they’d gotten back. I realized that I wouldn’t have enjoyed myself because shopping for clothes and jewelry wouldn’t have interested me.

Another memory was learning about sports through my father. He taught me how to play basketball, football, and baseball and I grew up watching sports from an early age. My mother and sister had little interest in sports, but I valued those times shared with my dad learning about different players and teams and watching games. Interest in sports is something society considers more “masculine” and it’s definitely something that is part of my identity. I still prefer watching sports to doing many other things today because my dad got me interested in them at an early age and I more easily identified with him and his interests instead of my mother and hers.

One theory that played a huge role in my development was the social development theory. The social development theory suggests that children “learn to be masculine or feminine primarily by imitating others and getting responses from others to their behaviors” (p. 48). This was so crucial for me because I would watch my father watch sports such as football or basketball and want to emulate him. I would get very into watching the games and root hard for certain teams because he was. This was an important development in my love for sports as he would cheer with me in response to my enjoyment.

Another theory that aided in my gender development was the cognitive development theory. The cognitive development theory suggests that “children pick models to teach themselves competency in masculine or feminine behavior” (p. 49). When my dad played sports, I would watch him and want to follow his lead. We’d play sports in our yard and he would encourage me each time I did well and explain how to improve when I didn’t. This reinforcement of masculinity carried over to my love of sports as an adult. I wanted to be just like dad and his positive reinforcement helped shape my masculinity.

This combination of active and passive learning helped aid my love for sports growing up and throughout adulthood. Though both theories differ in how they are applicable to me, I think both are valid because there was a combination of active and passive development. I passively noticed my father’s love for a traditionally masculine hobby and followed him because I actively chose to emulate him.

I find that I mostly fit into gender roles established in our society. As a straight male, my hobbies are mostly masculine and I have a “masculine” profession. I have more male friends than female friends and my social circle is more centered on masculine behavior. This is all probably due to going to an all-boys school during childhood and being used to male behavior much more than female behavior. I would see other people like me all the time and want to emulate them, as well as emulate my father at home. I fit into a male gender role because my gender was developed in a certain way and I learned actively and passively.

Though my upbringing and role in society is not necessarily uncommon, it’s very interesting to understand how things would have been different if I hadn’t had certain role models like my father in my life or hadn’t gone to an all-boys school. I may have been less into more traditionally masculine activities or picked up more feminine ones which would have led to different pursuits in my adult life.

1. In the first section of the paper I talk about my earliest memories of gender development using sports as an example.
2. In the second part of the paper I mention the two most important theories in my gender development.

I used the example of watching my dad play sports and wanting to emulate his reaction to games as well as how I chose to emulate him. I talked about cognitive development theory as well as social development theory and used my dad’s love of sports in both examples.

3. I ended the paper by talking about how I easily fit into established gender roles in society today, mentioning the all-boys school and how that helped with development.