Personal Example: In my own personal example, I identify most strongly with the social influences of gender as my prime agents of socialization, my parents and peers, have had a significant toll on how I perceive my gender. The psychoanalytic theory, in particular, states preschool children identify with the same-sex parent. In my own experiences, I distinctly remember having a much stronger attachment with my mother than my father, mainly because my mother and I could relate on a more personal level because we shared common interests. I was psychologically conditioned to internalize what was gender appropriate as a female. To elaborate, when I would see my mother wearing jewelry or makeup, I had this preconscious assumption this is was gender appropriate for all females to do as opposed to their male counterparts. As I adapted to gender roles and female norms, I began surrounding myself around same-sex peers as this is how I was socialized as a child. In addition, my mother put great emphasis on me attaining a respectful and polite mindset, in comparison to my brothers, who didn't experience this pressure. This was then reflected in my school environment as I recognized a lot of my female classmates were much more calm and polite in comparison to the males, who were much more aggressive. All in all, I was, and still am, internally motivated to act in ways that resemble my gender, thus picking up on these gender norms and attitudes.
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