When given the Photo/Blog assignment on the socialization of gender in children, I quickly decided that my younger sister and her lifestyle is a good representation of what I was intending to portray. I believe the point of view in which the picture was taken sends a strong message. By the picture being taken at that angle, it let in majority of the rooms lighting. I had originally set up the picture this way so that the light would reveal a strong reflection of what is unseen without the mirror. The end result, which was unplanned, sent a much stronger message. Rather than her reflection being the main focus of the picture, I feel that her physical being was what first grabbed the viewers attention. In the reflection piece of the photograph, the color changed in an interesting way. Instead of dominating the picture, her reflection is rather very saturated and gives off a feeling of emptiness. While many young girls may accept ballet and dance as a part of their lifestyle willingly, I feel as if the socialization of gender may push some into more female oriented activities, whether the child is hesitant or not. In the portion of the photograph where she is posed with her back to the viewer, her identity is unknown. I believe this was appropriate in sending the message that through socialization of gender, it is as if most young children are stripped of who they may potentially become. Conscious or not, children are pushed everyday in a direction of their particular genders standards. By not being able to see her face in that part of the picture, it is as if she is deprived of her individuality, that girl could be anyone. I believe this picture tackles the overall issue that is obvious when discussing the socialization of gender. While some children will be untouched by the issues with gender standards, it will remain concealed of what may have came if gender was unknown and children were able to be who they are by choice, without the influence of unconscious and outside forces.
6 comments:
I find this picture to be very intriguing considering the angle of the shot and the positioning of the young girl. This one little girl portrays billions of girls in the world who try to form into something that they feel is right. In a sense, she does look like she knows what she is doing and knows where to position her feet to make her pose that much better but, if you look at her face in the mirror, she seems to be upset. It is almost like she knows what to do and how to do it, yet is not happy with herself. This is scenario is similar with older woman as well. Going through teenage years and young adulthood can be tough but, with media and pressure from society telling you how to be in order to become successful in certain areas makes it that much harder. I have had friends who would fix their make-up in between every class in the girls bathroom. The thing was, after re-applying, they would always degrade themselves by saying how they were so fat and didn't have nice bodies like some girls did in school. The truth of the matter is, women are portrayed to be symbols of the eyes and nothing else. Though we were in school, their appearance was so much higher above school work. Do you think any boy would go into the bathroom in between every class to look and degrade himself? I know I didn't know of a boy to do that. This is all societys' role and gender rules for those who follow them. Now, you can't hide from society but, you can understand what kind of toll it puts on yourself and learn to not follow the rules of being told who to be.
I like this picture because it shows detail of what girls are put through at a young age. The stereotypical ballerina is thin, graceful, and beautiful. At such a young age these girls must live up to this type of image to be that ballerina they always wanted to be. This little girl as you can see in the reflection has a lot of makeup on her face to show her features more vividly. But being young is beautiful in itself, without the makeup. But society almost forces it upon them. Ballerinas must also wear black leotards which almost show all their body features. Which in all, may affect a young girls confidence, and make her self conscious of her body image against that of a ballerina. I also like the way you managed to capture the light coming in from the side window behind the little girl. This reflection that is coming off of the mirror reveals a paler figure. It almost makes the little girls face and body even paler than it would normally be in a regular setting. If you look at the tone in the girls skin that’s not in the reflection you can see that she’s darker than that which “she” sees herself. And what I mean by that is the girl in the picture sees this pale person starring back at her. When in reality its only the lighting within the room that makes her look the way that she does. As we already know girls have this disdain to be thin and beautiful. So in order to make it more of a point in today’s society they have little girls were black skin tight apparel and look at them selves against a tone indifferent mirror. But all in all I really think you were able to capture gender socialization in this photograph.
I really like this picture. You're right about her reflection seeming 'empty'. What I first noticed was just her pose- a little girl in a ballerina tutu and studio. But when you look closer, you see the somehwat heavy makeup, and her serious (and I thought a little sad) face. Awesome pic!
This is a good really good idea. Many "girlish" activities such as ballet can be really harmful to girls starting at young ages. Because they are thought to be the epitomy of beauty and grace, they are pressured into being extremely thin, which triggers eating disorders in many of the dancers. It is also disturbing that they encourage little girls, like the one in this picture, to wear loads of makeup on their face. The way her reflection is coming off the mirror almost gives the feeling that she is unhappy with the image staring back at her.
When looking at this picture you couls view it from two different ways. one being the girl does appear to be into ballet and apperaing to feel proud of it, but also she looks kind of empty feeling on her face like what am I doing here. Maybe she is not even interested in this just in the image she sees of herself.
I think this photo displays how femininty "should be" in todays society. I think it shows how girls should be soft, pure and poised. I also think it displays the eagerness to grow up. As young as she this girl is, she is wearing makeup. I think her makeup was most likely applied by her mother strictly for her ballet recidal, but the point is that she is still young and wearing makeup. Why couldnt she do the recidal with out makeup? Why must the mother or women who applied the makeup need to contribute to America's girls insecurities and genderization at such a young age?
Post a Comment