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Essay / Toy Store Stereotypes - 1690
A man is expected to financially support his family. We depend on a predictable division of labor, so we assign responsibilities that we think seem appropriate for a particular gender. Gender sociology essentially studies how social institutions have affected our perceptions of masculinity and femininity. Masculinity is appropriate behavior for a man and femininity is appropriate behavior for a woman. We construct gender norms that tell us the socially acceptable ways we are supposed to act in correlation to our gender. We learn early on what parents, schools, culture, and media expect of our gender. Toy stores sell action figures, like WWE wrestlers, that are aimed at boys, because to be masculine, you have to be masculine.