Assignment
Length: 1500 words research with 5 resources based on this presentation so you will add more sources. you will rewrite my words and add more.
I will talk about LGBTQ families, so I will be focusing on three important things. The first thing is about important concepts such as gender, sex, orientation and gender roles. Next, advertising, toys, and their relation to gender stereotyping. Finally, the last topic will be policies that can benefit LGBTQ families.
· To begin, I want to define gender and sex. According to Lecture 1 "Gender Definitions & Study" by Dr. Shelley R. Hart, gender is what each of us think about ourselves regarding being a man or a woman, but sex refers to our biological appearance and characteristics. Also, orientation is another important concept which refers to sexual attraction. Examples are heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual. Lastly, gender roles are the standards and expectations that a society has about a man and a woman.
· The next point I will talk about is the relationship between advertising, toys and gender stereotyping. According to Lecture 1 "Gender Definitions & Study", gender stereotyping consists on the beliefs and ideas that society has about each gender. These ideas about genders are based on judgement. Children learn about gender by learning about these stereotypes in everyday life. Many of these stereotypes are reinforced by toys and media because they mirror social standards and norms.
· Finally, I will talk about the importance of creating policies to help LGBTQ families. These policies should be taken into account because discrimination against parents of the same sex is still a big problem. Policies should encourage equality among nuclear families with straight parents and straight children as well as modern families that consists of gay parents and straight children as well as families of straight parents and gay children. The text "Coming Out of the Closet," by Ryan, Pearlmutter, and Groza, says that the policy making process should improve. When making policies, there should be a focus on making families equal as well as making a priority the welfare of all children.
· Before discussing the next topic, I will share with you my thought transformation of before and after taking this class. Before I didn't think so much about laws and the legal process. In fact, I was used to think that LGBTQ families could just live together, but I realized as a result of taking this class that laws are so important because there are many things that involved adopting, and raising children as LGBTQ parents. This is because society is not accepting of this yet.
· Because of this, a huge problem arises about stereotyping same-sex parents by thinking that they are not capable of raising children because they might affect the sexuality of the child. This is not only a legal problem but it is also a social problem because of prejudge from part of the rest of society. This way of thinking because harmful for parents and children because they are constantly subjected to discrimination.
· Inclusivity is the solution to this problem. Inclusivity policies help people such as the LGBTQ community to get equal rights to the rest of society. Inclusivity ensures that all people have an equal chance to live a happy life just as heterosexual families do.
In conclusion, this course has been an incredible course because I have gained a lot of useful and important information not only about child development but about the LGBTQ community as well. I know am more aware of the different social and cultural components that influence children's development and I better understand the different political and social processes that are necessary in order to bring equality to all families.