Where a boy learns to be a man and a girl learns to be a woman? It's impossible to pinpoint the exact moment they learned what it meant to be a boy or a girl. The reason? Gender roles are the result of constant exposure to gender socialization. From birth onwards, we become sensitive to society's opinion of what a boy or a girl should look like. The way we dress, the way we act, the choices we make, and the way we interact with others can all be connected in some way to the gender roles in our lives. While this may not seem like such a bad thing, gender roles can prove to be quite harmful to a child's growth and development. This is because gender roles provide strict guidelines that one feels obligated to adhere to, leaving little choice and autonomy for a child growing up in our society. In order to explore the origins of how gender roles are learned, a solid definition of gender versus sex must be developed. Sex is completely biological and the physical sex organs you are born with are determined by nature. Gender, on the other hand, is not biological in any sense: it is in fact something that is decided and dictated by the influence of society and parents. What it means to be male or female is something we are taught. Contrary to popular belief, it is clearly not something that comes pre-programmed into our brains. The American Psychological Association defines gender as “…the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society deems appropriate for boys and men or girls and women. These influence how people act, interact and feel about themselves. This definition confirms that gender is learned, rather than inherited. As a psychologist... middle of paper... Web. November 13, 2011. Bruner, Jerome S., and Helen Haste. Making sense: The child's construction of the world. Hoboken: Routledge, 2011. eBook “Children's Gender Identity.” YouTube: Broadcast yourself. TVO Parents, April 30, 2009. Web. November 13, 2011. “Gender Identity and Gender Confusion in Children.” Healthy children. American Academy of Pediatrics, May 11, 2011. Web. November 13, 2011. Hoffman, January "Boys Will Be Boys? Not in These Families." New York Times June 10, 2011, no. page Network. November 30, 2011.Maes, Cheryl. Interview via email. November 16, 2011.McDaniel, Sarah, Kelsi Caywood, and Natalie Wahl. "Should children be raised in a gender-neutral way? (Our turn column)." Michigan Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - MLive.com. Kalamazoo Gazette. Network. 07 November 2011.Ya-Lun, Tsao. "Gender Issues in Young Children's Literature." Improved reading. (2009): 108-14. Network. November 6. 2011.