Gender determines the individual as male or female and includes physiological characteristics such as the type of sexual organs, the type of dominant hormones, the ability to give birth and breastfeeding; It is a concept that has a social aspect in addition to the biological aspect mentioned in this definition (Özpolat and İşgör, 2013). On the social aspect of gender, the emphasis is on the system of roles that society imposes on men and women, and it is argued that gender occurs simultaneously with developments in life (Vatandaş, 2007).
Gender recognition begins in early childhood. A newborn child finds himself in a social environment and first begins to establish social relations with his parents. By observing his parents, he examines their behavior, sees that his parents behave differently, and begins to define gender roles (Bağçeli Kahraman and Arabacıoğlu, 2018). Thomson (1975) argues that the process of the child acquiring these gender roles first begins with the child recognizing his own sexual identity (Ünlü, 2012). In this context, it is thought that it would be appropriate to explain concepts such as gender roles, sexual development, sexual orientation and gender identity in order to understand gender.
Gender Roles
Gender roles are the behaviors, attitudes, duties, rights and obligations that the concept of gender expects from men and women and are related to the gender mentioned in the definitions of gender (Dökmen , 2010; cited in Yağhan Güder, 2014). While children develop in line with the sexual equipment they are born with, the child will assume the identity of a girl or a boy as long as he supports this equipment (Şenyüz et al., 1995; cited in Eser, 2008). So, how does a child acquire the perception, attitude and behavior characteristics specific to his/her gender? At this point, it would be appropriate to talk about theories advocating different theories about how gender roles develop:
1. Psychoanalytic Theory:
Freud argued that we go through some developmental periods in our childhood to shape our personality as an adult, and that sexual development is at the basis of this process. He describes this process as psychosexual development. explained within the framework of theory. These periods; oral period, anal period, phallic period, latent period and genital periods. Freud states that the mother-son, father-daughter relationship in the phallic period, which corresponds to the age of 3-6, is resolved with the oedipal and electra complex and personality development is shaped (Bilir,1994; cited in Eser, 2008). According to the identification theory put forward by Freud, children in the family identify with their same-sex parents and acquire all the characteristics of the adult they identify with, including their sexual roles and tendencies (Alkan, 1992; cited in Ünlü, 2012).
Psychoanalytic theory; Another representative, Erikson, agrees that the child identifies with the parent of the same gender while developing sexual role behaviors, but emphasizes that as a result of identification, the child internalizes the parent's behavior with his own sexual identity (Tok, 2001).
2. Social Learning Theory:
Bandura states that children learn new behaviors by observing the people around them and imitate these behaviors; He states that if the behaviors they imitate are rewarded, they still internalize the behavior. If the child is rewarded when he behaves in accordance with his gender, as his parents want, he will continue to imitate this behavior. He argues that environmental factors, such as the media, also affect this process. Thus, the boy learns to be a man, and the girl learns to be a woman (Berk, 2003; Cherney and Dempsey, 2010; Kail, 2004; Ülken, 2011, cited in Bağçeli Kahraman and Arabacıoğlu, 2018). The focus of social learning theorists is that children acquire certain experiences from the people they see around them and take as models, and these experiences are reflected in their behavior. Therefore, impressions have a great role in shaping gender stereotypes (Tok, 2001)
3. Cognitive Development Theory:
This theory sees the child, not the environment, as the active factor in the socialization of gender roles. In other words, observing the environment is not the only thing the child does, the child himself takes part in this process. r. The basis of the theory is that the process of separating genders follows the universal principles of cognitive development (Özen, 1992). Kohlberg's theory of sexual development was expanded on the basis of Piaget's theory of cognitive development and social learning theory. Kohlberg argues that the child must go through three mental stages to complete his understanding of sexuality; The first of these is 'basic sexuality identity'. This stage is the stage when the child reaches the physical distinction of being a girl or a boy. The second stage is the 'gender constancy' stage, where children think that their gender will always remain the same and that they will grow up as men and women. The last stage is the 'consistency of gender' stage. At this stage, children believe that even though people have some differences in appearance, their gender will not change (Özdemir, 2019). For example, when they see a woman with short hair, they are aware that she is not a man.
According to the cognitive development approach, when the child reaches the age of 3, he knows his own and others' gender accurately. By the time they are 4 years old, they have a partial idea that their gender will not change. Before the age of gender conservation, that is, in the preschool period, children believe that they can switch between gender roles. According to the theory, once sexual identity develops, the child will gather his/her behaviors around this identity (Temel and Aksoy; 2001; cited in Ünlü, 2012).
4. Gender Schema Theory:
The theory was shaped under the leadership of Sandra Bem. According to Bem (1981), there are schemas in the mind to organize daily behaviors. Some of these schemas belong to gender roles, and these schemas related to gender roles contain children's knowledge that overlaps with the roles of boys and girls. Thanks to this information, children create schemas in their minds about the characteristics of boys and girls and try to adopt the role appropriate to their gender through questions (Bayhan and Artan, 2007; cited in Ünlü, 2012). The gender schema begins when the child reaches the age of 3, realizes the basic differences between men and women, and begins to recognize his/her own gender. But it starts to develop. Gender schemas help the child categorize knowledge about what is appropriate and characteristic of men and women. Children develop schemas for both genders (Ünlü, 2012).
According to Gender Schema Theory; Children first decide whether the behavior or object is specific to a girl or a boy. In this context, stereotypical beliefs or certain activity preferences observed in children show that they have a strong gender schema idea (Berk, 2003; Kail, 2004; cited in Bağçeli Kahraman and Arabacıoğlu, 2018).
Sexual Development
Sexuality begins with the recognition of gender and continues until the end of the individual's life. It refers to the values, emotions, attitudes, behaviors that differ according to society, and the appearance it shapes in parallel (Özdemir, 2019). Sexual development is the individual's ability to have a healthy attitude towards his sexual growth, to overcome his sexual problems and to have knowledge in controlling his negative sexual impulses (Başaran, 1992). Sexual development begins in childhood and is associated with situations such as the child's adaptation to his environment, good mental health, and emotional balance (Eser, 2008). Sexual development progresses in parallel with gender awareness and age. So what are the stages of sexual development in children? Sexual development begins with the determination of the child's gender.
Gender determination in children occurs during fertilization. If the woman's sex chromosome, the X chromosome, mates with the man's X chromosome, the child born will be a girl (XX); If it matches with the man's Y chromosome, the child born will be male (XY) (Özpolat and İşgör, 2013).
In the 0-1 year period, which is the first period after birth, the baby has a body that he does not recognize and is unfamiliar with the world. For this reason, he tries to get to know his body in the first months. Situations such as being full, warm water touching the body, and changing the child's diaper are sources of pleasure for the child (Yavuzer, 1997 and Yılmaz, 2017).
When they reach the age of 1-3, children are not fully aware of whether they are a boy or a girl. This is the period when children begin to discover their bodies (Özkızıklı and Okutan, 2014; cited in Özdemir, 2019). Due to toilet training, the mother's attention is on the child's sexual organ, and the child directs his attention to his own sexual organ (Yavuzer, 1997). Starting from the age of 2, children begin to sense differences between both their own gender and the opposite gender and ask questions about these differences (Yılmaz, 2017).
By the age of 3-6, children understand that there are two different genders. They try to find the differences between genders with questions. Girls imitate their mothers and boys imitate their fathers. They begin to acquire behaviors related to their own gender by imitating them and using their belongings (Özkızıklı and Okutan, 2014; cited in Özdemir, 2019). They recognize themselves and their genitals through touch (Yılmaz, 2017). Generally, gender differences in toy and game preferences increase (Cook and Cook, 2005).
In the 6-8 age range, curiosity about gender issues, which is intense in the 3-6 age period, is replaced by mental and social intensity with the start of the school period (Yılmaz, 2017). Constant or increasing gender differences are noticed in television program preferences, sporting events, games and hobbies. For example, men watch more cartoons and adventure programs (Cook and Cook, 2005).
Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation is defined as an individual directing his or her erotic and romantic interests or sexuality towards any gender, or being sexually aroused by any gender. A person can be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or asexual depending on his sexual orientation (Özsungur, 2010). The American Psychological Association (2009) argues that sexual orientation is not an optional situation, but a situation called orientation, which is linked to psychological impulses and biological systems that include intense emotional states such as falling in love (Eşel, 2006). Freud (1961
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