Whereas the word "sex" is a biological term that categorizes the male and female reproductive organs, a person's gender is recognized through acts of socialization. Genderization begins in infancy when adults accept young boys as handsome and tough, while juvenile girls are viewed as angelic and beautiful. Unlike our reproductive organs, gender is not determined by a penis or a vagina. From a very young age, we learn to wear clothing associated with our assigned-at-birth gender (male or female), walk and talk within gender expectations, and pursue interests and goals that society deems appropriate to a specific gender. By the time girls and boys start school, the socialization process is well underway, and children are actively constructing gender (Khasan & Tiumeneva, 1998).
             Barrie Thorne, the author of the book "Gender Play: Girls and Boys in School" (1994), argues that children are not just passive recipients of genderized socialization from parents, teachers, and media influences, but they also participate actively in the creation and performance of gender. Thorne's book is a result of two periods of intense observation at two elementary schools, and his findings support the view that gender is socially constructed and that children "act, resist, rework, and create" gender (p. 3). She argues that a child's activities should not be viewed as preparation for adulthood, but simply as a young person who is living in the present, and living "life itself."
             Thorne uses the metaphor of play to describe children and their gender activities. In one sense play is being actively engaged or employed; in this sense, children actively perform gender identities, participate in gender-based groups, and produce gender meanings. Thus, gender is not something a child is or has, but something the child does. A second strand of meaning is play as "dramatic performance" of games and rituals such as "girls-chase-the-boys," "cooties," and "bra ...