ABSTRACT
When a new child arrives in the family, everyone knows the first question to be asked: "Is it a girl or a boy?" Social scientists can also ask "Why is the sex of the child so important? What use do people make of this information, and how does it affect that child's life story?" From birth onward, the identification of each newborn as female or male has lifelong implications. In all societies, females and males are exposed to differing life circumstances. These differences include sociocultural expectations for gendered behavior from birth through adulthood; socialization patterns experienced via parents, peers, and teachers; opportunities and limitations with respect to life-career choices; experiences of trauma and stress; and access to political, legal, economic, and social resources. Social scientists speak of the process of gendering to refer to the sum of all influences on developing persons that channel females and males into divergent life situations. In turn, these gendered expectations become internalized by individuals as aspects of the self, inclining them toward culturally sex-linked characteristics, cognitions, and interpersonal transactions.
