Sam

from: Kayla

Gender Socialization, I believe, is learned and defined most heavily through school and the people you associate yourself with. I have noticed recently, that the girls going through adolescence now are completely aware of what they say, how they act, how they look, and just what exactly it's saying to the world and the people around them. No matter how you act before you reach a certain age, it's all out the window when you hit adolescence. For boys, it's the pressure to be dominant and powerful. For girls, it is the pressure to be submissive and weak. Take Samantha for instance. She sits in a hunched, submissive way, almost like she is cowering. Her long hair is covering half her face that makes you think their is something mysterious about her. She laughs in a shy, "oh, you silly!" kind of way and looks at you through her long lashes. She knows exactly what's she's doing. Though she is a good student, she has learned through the ways of the popular crowd to dumb yourself down, to act like a ditz, to dress and talk and act in a 'come hither' way if she ever wants a boyfriend. To be submissive, to be girly and feminine in all aspects of life is the only thing that is acceptable. Not too long ago we called her Sam. But that's unacceptable now. "It's too boyish," she tells me. Now it's Sammi, don't forget the heart in replace of the dot for the 'i'. The look she was giving me in this picture as I sat across the table from her captures what I think adolescent girls have picked up on and are using today.