Gender Scripts in Children

From: Jennie

From the time even before we’re even born until we die our lives are laid out for us in the way

that our gender is determined. If you’re a boy you’re automatically blue and if you’re a girl you’re automatically pink. Boys don’t bleed blue and girls don’t bleed pink. Our gender is something that we get to decide for ourselves, more specifically our gender expression. Being a little girl automatically means you play with barbies and babies and being a little boy means you play with cars and guns. The media pushes these toys differently to boys and girls to keep going with the gender stereotypes and roles that the kids will have in their futures.

My image shows a little boy looking happy playing with a Rapunzel Barbie and a stuffed dog in a dress. Typically, when you think of a little boy playing it wouldn’t usually be with a barbie doll. Toys that are advertised to boys are more aggressive and darker than the ones advertised to girls. Laurie Rudman’s article, “The Two Cultures of Childhood” made me want to take this picture of my brother playing with what are generally considered “girl” toys. What makes this picture that I took about my brother special is that he has 3 older sisters and we always let him play with barbies and we would dress him up “as a girl.” He really didn’t differentiate between boys and girls until he showed his dad and he told him it was for girls and he started going to school and interacting with other kids. “Most likely, children have learned to avoid being seen playing with toys associated with the other gender (Bannerjee & Lintern, 2000)”(Rudman, 60-61). When boys play with cars, computers, and guns it’s setting them up for higher paying jobs like programmers and engineers. When girls play with toys like babies, schools and kitchens it’s setting them up at such an early age to be mothers, homemakers, and teachers to where it’s hard to break out of that shell. “These different forms of role-playing reinforce traditionally gendered adult roles and the enactment of stereotypically masculine traits among boys.. and stereotypically feminine traits among girls” (Rudman, 61).

I tried to incorporate different creative elements into my photograph. Gaze is the one element I tried to showcase mainly. You can see that his facial expression is a very happy one and he’s not looking directly at the camera or the toys either. He’s happy knowing he enjoys playing with the toys but won’t

look at them because he hears what it means if he does. He also isn’t looking at the camera because he also doesn’t wanna face the fact and show people that he likes to play with toys that are considered “girl toys”. I also used the same and different in my photograph. The clothes he’s wearing are clothes that are considered “boys” clothes having lego ninjago on them and being blue. While the toys in his hands are considered “girls” toys being a barbie and a stuffed animal.

Everything all throughout life, starting in childhood is extremely gendered. From the gender reveal, color of the baby shower bags, to the toys you play with, to the job you get is all connected in some way.

Works Cited:

Rudman, Laurie A., et al. "The Two Cultures of Childhood." The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations. The Guilford Press, 2015, 59-63.