By Mary Grace
When I was growing up, I was always one of the strongest girls in the room. I was able to lift heavy from picking up my little brother and my other younger neighbors. I grew up playing many different sports which included having natural body strength and resistance. Especially when I started doing taekwondo. I was one of two girls in my class in elementary school and middle school who wanted to participate in martial arts. Other girls would see me as more manly than others and eventually once they learned the term, they thought I was a lesbian. Because out of all the sports I was playing, taekwondo was the least girly sport. Everyone would tell me, “Wow, you’re really strong...for a girl” or I would even sometimes get the occasional “You’re too strong for a girl”. As a young girl, I never saw it as a problem but eventually, it made me a little insecure because apparently girls aren’t supposed to be strong like a boy. We are taught these gender scripts at a young age of how men and women are supposed to act and be perceived by, rather than just being our own unique person.
Although I grew up with shows and movies with female primary characters, with some who highlighted their mental strength, there were no or very limited shows and movies with physically strong female characters, like Luisa from Encanto (2021) for example. I grew up watching older Disney Princess movies and Barbie, where the female characters would dress and act like a stereotypical girly girl and of course, be saved by men, fall deeply in love at first glance and marry them and have a happily ever after. the "Hers; The Smurfette Principle” by Katha Pollitt, she mentions how women are portrayed to be more a side piece to the male main character’s story. Girls would only be in plot to be visually pleasing to men or to be a “damsel in distress” to make it easier for the men to be the heroes. They are all stereotypical and physically perfect and “the more privileged and daring can dream of becoming exceptional women in a man's world – Smurfettes" (par. 8). As CJ Pascoe expresses his ideas regarding masculinity, he tells how Psychoanalytic Feminist Theorists say that masculinity is an identity formation caused by inequality. In other words, being masculine is tied to working hard, being the boss, taking initiative, and doing things for yourself in contrast to being feminine, which means being nurturing, selfless, and codependent according to society’s terms. (Introduction to Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies). So breaking society’s definition for masculinity identified me as less of a woman and more of a man, which confused me.
In my photo, I demonstrated my physical strength, while you can also see the mental determination on my face while I’m bench pressing the barbell. I purposefully angled the camera to show my whole outfit, my facial expression, and how I’m holding the weight up. I kept the room lit up to exhibit my happiness and add a glow to the scene. Lastly, I took this picture in my home gym, instead of at the Y where I normally work out to put all the focus on myself. I wore my taekwondo uniform top and my black belt to show how my determination and enjoyment of the sport eventually led me to pass my strenuous test and earn a big accomplishment, which a lot of girls I know, have never earned. As my bottoms, I changed into a skirt and heels instead of my uniform bottoms to explain that even though I am strong and I played a “man’s” sport, I am still feminine in my own ways, and I identify with female pronouns. I also like wearing makeup, doing my hair, and dressing up. However, because I am a black belt in taekwondo, that makes me more of a masculine girl. If I was not as strong, I would have never become as independent of a person because of a lack of needing help a lot. And that’s okay because I honor my strength, it gives me confidence, and it makes me want to show it off and highlight my individuality.
Works Cited
Pascoe, C.J. “Making Masculinity: Adolescence, Identity, and High School.” Introduction to Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies: Interdisciplinary and Intersectional Approaches, edited by L. Ayu Saraswati, Barbara Shaw, and Heather Relihan, Oxford Press, 2018, pp. 46-52.
Pollitt, Katha. "Hers; the Smurfette Principle." Hers; The Smurfette Principle. The New York Times, 07 Apr. 1991. Web. 24 Oct. 2022. <https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/07/magazine/hers-the-smurfette-principle.html>.
3 comments:
-From Fune
The title of this really hit me like a truck because I used to say stuff like that growing up myself. The idea of hard work and strength being tied to masculinity is truly problematic as it instills the idea that you're less of a woman for working hard and being strong. Your picture was very well done with the strength and dedication from working out and achieving a black belt in Taekwondo to the skirt and heels showing that no matter how masculine the world may perceive you as, you're still a woman who enjoys feminine things. Your strength makes you more confident and independent but it doesn't take away from the woman you are.
From-Berta Zavala
I like how you included how specific shows belittle women into being weak. Movies that children watch definitely change the ways they think. Not only for girls thinking that they are unable to be strong, but also for young boys, expanding on the belief, and bringing down girls around them, simply because they see them as weaker. Society as a whole must start to expand on women's ability, and not simply bring up men as the stronger individual, as even in the workforce this could expand job opportunities for women, and not just simply label them as teachers, nurses or caretakers. Some women push themselves less, because as a child they already began to believe that they were weaker than men. Not only does it give less chances to women, but also gives men the ability to overshadow women in the workforce and also society. Such as in “The two cultures of childhood”, it provides a glimpse into how society has provided young boys with toys that reflect upon their careers, in which these careers pay more, and are also more glorified in society, such as an engineer, and girls are marketed towards toys that reflect upon lower paying jobs such as a childcare worker or teacher. "The Smurfette Principle”, expands on this, and describes how even children shows provide a male dominated world, with women simply as the side character who is either in need of saving, or just there for entertainment purposes Your image is a great way of reflecting the ways in which the world has marketed girls as weaker, and men as the stronger individual.
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