This article examines the problem of gender socialization and identity in modern Russian society, on the basis of an analysis of ideas about the typical and ideal gender characteristics of the personality is compared to three age groups (up to 20 years - generation q, 20-40 years - Generation Y and 40-60 years - generation X) and concludes on the main trends in the development of gender characteristics of the individual in groups of different gender and age. The study obtained new empirical data on age and sexual differences in perceptions of typical and ideal qualities of gender, in particular, found that the age of women significantly influences their ideas about the male and female gender ideal, the age of men significantly influences their perception of the male gender ideal, members of different generations of the south significantly differ in ideas about the female gender ideal, the representatives of different generations Y significantly differ in ideas about the female gender ideal , the biological sex in the age group X influences the idea of male gender ideal. At the same time, there were no statistically significant differences between gender and age in the perception of typical male and female qualities. The results can be an important material for a differentiated approach to family counselling and assistance in building harmonious inter-sex relationships.