One aspect of myself is gender (female). This “self” was developed in more ways than I can count throughout my life. The first would be the name my parents gave me (Julie Christina) which identifies me as a female. Next, I had quite a lot of pink in my room with flowered wallpaper. I was required to wear dresses to church on Sundays. In addition, when I was young my mother stayed at home, while my father worked. It is the opposite now, and my dad has taken over the cooking, but my mom still does the cleaning. These are just some of the ways my parents have socialized me to gender.

School may have been the next biggest influence. Playing games “boys against girls” at recess always brought up the differences between the two genders. Boys told me I could not play football at recess made me acutely aware of being female. However, I played football anyway!

Media probably also socialized me as well. All in all, I think that these forces can have a powerful effect on myself or anyone else. However, I was also raised to believe there are no limits on what I can accomplish, and that belief is stronger than any socialized notion of gender I may have.