from: Amy
Many young boys idolize superheroes because they are tough, they are heroes, and they usually capture the bad guys. This is a picture of my four year old son at Isle of Adventure in Orlando, Florida. During this vacation we visited several different places such as Disney World and Universal Studios. You can tell by the excitement in his face that this was the highlight of his vacation. Several young boys look up to superheroes such as Spiderman because they believe that they are real. My son often wants to dress in his old Halloween costumes and play with his action figures because it is part of his gender socialization. No one ever told my son that he had to like these types of characters, it was just something that he showed interest in as young as 18 months old. Young boys idolize these types of characters and want to be just like them because they are tough. Little boys are taught and perceived to be tough at a very young age. When they see these superheroes fighting the evil and rescuing the females they want to take part in these roles because it will make them look like a tough hero. Just like little girls want to be princesses, little boys want to be superheroes. There are several studies that suggest that children interacting and playing out the roles of superheroes will provoke violence. Until my son manages to get his web to actually shoot; what’s wrong with him
being a boy?
2 comments:
At eighteen months children don’t typical show an interest in the type of toys that they like to play with. Most time it’s the parent at buys the toys that they would like to see their child play with. At eighteen months, I don’t believe that your son was kicking and screaming for Spiderman toys. I would say around age two a child will show interests in a certain toys, but they are aware that they have a small selection to choose from. For most parents if their little boy asks for a Barbie, they will not get it. The answer most often given is those dolls are for girls. Little children know that there are certain toys that they are not allowed to play with, due to their gender. So weather its Spiderman, superman, batman, the toy that your son chooses to show an interest in is one that is acceptable by you. No one ever told your son to model the action of his favorite super hero, but naturally he would. Weather you’re a child or an adult if you admire someone, there are certain characteristic of theirs that you would like to have. The same thing goes for children, but they want to be just like their super hero. Maybe they can’t shoot web out of their hand but, the things that they have control over is what they model. They want to look and act like their super hero. For children not all heroes are super hero, some children look up to their parents, friends, and celebrities. They model the behavior that they have control over. Little girls grow up wanting to be like Brittany Spears and little boys want to be like 50 cents. Why couldn’t it be that boys want to exploit their sexuality and girls want be strong and look intimating? The fact that there are boy’s toys over girl’s toys and boys clothes over girl clothes is problematic on its own. The fact that you don’t see “what’s wrong with being a boy?” is problematic. What make your son just loving Spiderman a boy’s thing? Could girls love Spiderman and still be considered just being a girl? The answer is no, whenever there’s a girl that loves to play outside, loves sport, and love video game, she is considered to be a tomboy. She is not considered just being a girl; instead she is a girl that acts like a boy. When we have young boys who are not gay but act famine, we label them as metro sexual. Why is it that we find a problem with the way that they are acting? Society wants female to act like a female and male to act like male. If anyone acts out of character, society finds a name to place them back in gender roles. So, there is nothing wrong with your son just being a boy, but why is it that being a boy is associated with the way your son acts?
Spiderman was my hero too! Speaking of the comic world, did you know that a lot of your female super heroes were created to gather more readers? I mean if you think about it, it makes sense. Guys are the creators of super heroes, so why would a guy make a woman super hero more powerful? he wouldnt. However, due to equal rights and things like that, creators started making female super heroes to compete with the big boys, and it worked. But Shanique is definitely right about boys mimicking their heroes actions. However, on a negative point, doe this teach our youth to be come more violent?
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