18 month old Ivy saw mommy doing daily chores in the kitchen. The main chore she saw was her mom emptying and loading the dishwasher. As you can see in the picture, Ivy tried imitating what mommy had done. I took four pictures to capture a series of events that shows how gender socialization affects children. In the top left picture there is glass cleaner in the dishwasher. I chose to keep it in the picture because it is a cleaning product that usually goes in hand with the stereotypical feminine house-hold duties and Ivy will pretend to spray the cleaner and wash the table with it. This action only happens because she interprets what her mom does and therefore thinks she needs to do the same things and be the same way. In the top right picture there is part of an arm; It was actually Ivy’s dad encouraging her to put some of the dishes in the dishwasher, further promoting the idea of gender socialization. The bottom left picture was taken at an anglewhere Ivy is higher than the dishwasher looking down at the chore she was imitating. When you look down on something it is usually a sign of something bad. Is a woman doing house chores wrong or degrading? Shouldn't it be okay for a male to do it too? The bottom right picture shows Ivy closing the dishwasher, but the angle of the shot positions her lower than the machine. The chore appears to be overpowering her as if it is superior or has more power than her. Most women feel as though they have no choice but to do the traditional feminine tasks and they can't do much about it. I chose to use blue as the color of the background to show the irony of how girls are supposed to like pink or yellow as their favorite color as to boys who should favor blue or green. Traditionally women are supposed to do the feminine tasks around the house such as the dishes, laundry, cooking, etc. Men traditionally mow the grass, fix the plumbing, change light bulbs, etc inwhich these are more masculine tasks. In the pictures you can see how Ivy is already evolving into the “traditional” women before the age of 2. She notices what mommy always does and therefore relates it to herself because they are the same sex. Parents are the most influential factor in gender socialization in children. Most parents will tell their daughter not to get dirty or play in the mud because that is for boys. They’ll also tell their sons that they can’t play with dolls because it’s for girls and therefore they look like a sissy. Children often make decisions based on what they’ve been taught or interpreted. Boys relate to males to determine behaviors as well as girls to females. Why can’t men and women perform the same tasks or activities without being viewed differently? Shouldn't’t a woman be able to change a tire by themselves without being seen as butch or manly? Why can’t a man take the kids to the grocery store and goshopping for items needed at the house? All of these scenarios make sense, but when they are being performed by the “wrong” sex it seems odd. Think about what you see before you judge.
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The stereotypes for boys and girls start even before they are born. The mother begins to buy blue clothing if she knows she is having a boy and pink for a girl. These colors were not thought of to be associated with each gender, but overtime have been stuck that way. As girls grow up they start comparing themselves with there peers and other celebrities they see on television and in magazines. Our society has made it almost impossible for someone not to imitate what they have seen in the media. Make-up, Hair products, body image, clothing, nail polish, skin tone, and eye color are all advertised to woman to convince them they could be more beautiful in certain styles of clothing or if they have the right make up on. Everyone wants to feel great about themselves inside and out, but the media has only focused on how to make your outer appearance the main priority. The ideal woman is petite, with a slim waist, long legs, gorgeous complexion and voluminous hair. Young girls that are at the ages of thirteen are striving to be this “ideal.” Some girls try to fit the part even if they know the clothes they are wearing are provocative so they make the effort to sneak it from their parents. Girls are persuaded to wear heavy make up and sexy clothing to be the one that gets the most attention from boys. They also may act flirtatious and “easy.” It is a major contradiction because boys want girls to act flirty and give them attention, but once they take it to far they become a slut. Also, at the opposite end of the spectrum if a girl is reserved she is labeled as a prude. Girls are constantly being judged for their looks and people wonder why they are at a higher risk for insecurity or to deal with physical and emotional abuse. Not feeling accepted because you do not meet societies standards of being beautiful can overtake the mind and cause long term internal pain.
After reading this assignment I can see and understand how most people are gender socialized not just from the media, but with help from their surroundings like their family. It is astonishing to see a child not even two years old doing what she is doing, imitating her mother by pretending to wash dishes and clean. At that age it is almost like children do not even know what they are doing because they are so young and later on in like the majority of people don't even remember what it was like when they were that age so it is astounding to see a child performing these tasks, you could say, almost unconsciously. Although many changes have been made in our society like the womens rights movement, if you look at the big picture, we are basically the same society that we were fifty years ago. Women are still seen as being the lesser sex and this picture and assignment further enforce that. The fact that the dad is encouraging his daughter, his 18 month old daughter, to do dishes just goes to show that our society has not changed a bit and people still treat the sexes accordingly. I think that the author of this assignment did a really good job with the angles of each picture to enforce the presence of gender socialization that is going on with this little girl. I especially noticed the picture on the bottom right where Ivy is seen as being smaller than the dishwasher which also emphasizes that someone can be gender socialized at such a young age. Also I thought that the color and title choice were both clever because it is completely true that just by looking at a color someone could distinguish whether it were a 'boy color' or 'girl color'. And the title went perfectly with the assignment because Ivy was literally acting 'just like mommy'.
I agree that parents and the media play a large roll on gender socialization. However, I think that kids this young will imitate almost anyones actions. For example, it is important for males and females to watch their language around young children because if they see/ hear their elders doing it they will pick it up. I do agree that the toys parents give to their daughters does differ greatly from the types of toys they would give their sons, and that they treat them differently although they are unaware, but I think that the actions of little kids is highly influenced by the actions of their elders, both male and female.
This picture reveals alot about how children learn to act like little boys and little girls. The little girl in the picture imitates what she sees her mother doing, from this young of an age she has already picked up on things that she will most likely become accustome to throughout her life. After watching many commercials it became evident that in most cases women are the ones shown doing the house cleaning, cooking the dinner, and washing the dishes. Media has ingrained this type of thinking that women are the ones who are supposed to do all of these tasks.
This picture reminds me of a time when I was playing trucks with my nephew. I had a big monster truck and I was running over all theother trucks. And he told me that is not how I was suppose to play. I was suppose to put the groceries in the truck. I thought that was hilarious, but that is because he is withhis mother all the time so he is coping what she does.
The picture as I look at it definitely shows how infants are also sterotyped into the domestic rule even as young as she is. It shows her imitating her mother doing the chors of an everyday homemaker. Children are influnced by what they see in everyday life. Unfortunately we do this to our children.
I like this picture. It goes to show how young children are taught their gender. Doing the dishes is a perfect example of what girls and boys can do, but mainly girls are taught this and shows how young they are taught. There is nothing wrong with boys being taught but they just are not.
I think this picture shows how girls develop nuturing habits at a young age. From the time they are babies they are taught to take care of people. I always see todlers carrying around babies in strollers as if it is there own child. This shows that the nurturing side of women starts at a very young age and continues throughout life
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