from: Kate
The next time you are around a child, pay attention to how they behave in the context of gender schema. You will find that there is a clear line drawn between the behavior of boys and girls. This picture is of a girl I baby-sit, Lily. This picture portrays the everyday life of this 2 year old. When I watch her, our activities always involve so-called womanly duties. We feed and change her babies, cook dinner, have ea-parties, and sweep and vacuum. I know that Lily never asked for baby-dolls, tea sets, or a play kitchen but that is what she has been given because these toys are the toys that everyone assumes a little girl would enjoy. Although it is certainly not intentional, Lily's parents are teaching her that these domestic acts are a part of her duty as a female.
I chose this picture of Lily because it best told the story of gender socialization. It incorporated all of the toys she plays with most frequently. I took the picture from above to give a sense of "looking down" on the activities that she was
participating in at the moment.
2 comments:
This is a great picture. I expanded this picture and noticed what Lily was doing. It seems like she is trying to change her doll. I noticed her toys also. There’s a cleaning cart, with the broom and a mini kitchen with a radio. These toys are common for younger girls Lily’s age. What is interesting is how Lily is holding onto the doll, with care. Just yesterday, I saw a younger boy, about Lily’s age, that was carrying his sisters’ doll. He was dragging the doll by the feet. I do believe that the toys Lily parents has brought for her is conditioning her for traditional gender roles. Where are the educational or cognitive developmental toys? In your paper you mention the types of activities that you do with Lily when you baby-sit her. It’s not only her parents that are conditioning her, its you too. I don’t believe that you, her parents, or anyone else, condition children on purpose. We have been brought up in a society thinking that these are female roles and that it would be okay to teach our children these roles. Some parents would argue that 2 yrs old is too young to teach girls math and science, but what is the difference between math, science and teaching your child gender roles? Absolutely Nothing! It’s just what people prefer to do. As a young child, my parents didn’t want me to play with too many dolls. I played with rockets, math and word games. Mostly likely for this reason, I grew up with high self-esteem and independence. As you mentioned in your paper, you said that Lily didn’t ask for these toys. But her parents brought them for her anyway. This suggests that these toys were advertised on TV for her parents to buy. Today’s media is the worst role model. A lot of commercials that advertise toys are gendered bias. When the media advertise trucks, water guns or building toys, they have boys playing with them. Girls are seen in advertisement involving dolls, dollhouses, and make-up or cookware toys. I think that images the media show will never change, so it is up to the parents to reinforce independence and genderless roles to their children.
I really like this picture. I think that it truly explains what gender socialization means. As young children are parents are in total control of what we ware and play with. Parents tend to think that girls should play with dolls and boys should play with guns. In the picture the little girl Lilly is playing with her doll she seems to be handling the doll with care and making sure that she does not hurt the baby. She is treating the doll as if it is her very own. When children are young parents teach them the roles of being a woman or a man without even realizing it by the toys they are playing with, for example this picture of Lilly.
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