from: Tara
This picture was taken at The Little Gym in Severna Park, in a dance class for four and five year olds. This picture reveals a lot about gender socialization. For one thing, every child in this dance class (tap, ballet, and creative movement) is a girl. Second, each girl is wearing almost exactly the same dance leotard in bright
"feminine" colors. From this angle you can see not only all the girls posing the same way with the same unnatural smile, but you can also see the parent's reflection in the mirror. This picture shows that these girls are not asked to be different or stand out or be creative; instead they are lined up exactly the same, in the same pose with the same smile and told to "look pretty." From the parents reaction we can see a lot of dads and moms with cameras smiling enthusiastically at their little girl for conforming and not sticking out. Even every other girl is wearing white tights to keep this photo opt for the parents balanced. The one girl who is not wearing the same leotard and not posing the same way as the other girls and whom happens to be the tallest is strategically placed in the middle for the photographer'™s purpose. This girl stands out because she is not following the other girls and she'™s almost smiling as if to say "whatever, I don'™t care."™ When first viewing this photograph you may think to yourself how cute these girls are all looking identical and posing together. But then it starts to sink in, dance is suppose to be a freedom of expression yet all these girls look and act exactly the same.
2 comments:
I think this is the perfect picture to show how little girls are expected to conform to what society thinks they should be. Not all little girls like ballet. Some little girls would rather play outside in the dirt than dress up in a tutu and dance around for approval. I think you hit the nail on the head with this blog. Not every little girl should act the same. They should not have to pretend to like things they don't like just to make their parents happy.
I danced from the time I was three until I was fifteen. In those twelve years, I never had a boy in my classes. In fact, if I recall correctly, there was only one guy, in another class-- and his twin sister was in the same class, and he only did it for one year, anyway.
Every costume that I wore was a bright, pretty color- with sequins and ribbons and tu-tus. I had pink leotards, white leotards, blue leotards... and even the skirts, leg warmers, and tights I wore were pale colors.
Looking back at all of the pictures, we all looked the same: same pose, same smile (what I now call the "put on your cheesy smiles and pretend you know what you're doing" smile), same costume.
I thought that it made me different that I danced- none of my other friends did. I never realized that I wasn't actually standing out.
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