Outside the Box

From: Angela
I took this picture to depict how we teach gender to our children froman early age.Beginning in the hospital we identify our children’s gender; boys inblue caps, girls in pink. I still remember the little pink cap mydaughter wore in the nursery of the hospital. We want them to “fit” intheir respective group from day 1. This picture was taken in my daughter’s room as it looks today. You cansee it is without a doubt a classic girlie-girl’s room, pink from top tobottom. On her bed I placed some of her things from past and present andI also placed some of my nephew’s toys beside them. I placed themspecifically in the squares of the comforter’s pattern to show twothings. First, I wanted to show how unconscious or not, most of usplace our children in very defined sex-oriented boxes. Girl’s play withdolls, and jewelry and make-up and pink is the number one colorassociated with girls. Notice even her “Jenga” game, which now comes ingender specific versions. We of course bought her the “girl talk- Jengagame”. Among my nephew’s toys are of course a car, a baseball glove(specifically blue), and though he would never call them dolls, you cansee his doll-like figures consist of “Spiderman”, a robot and some sortof “super-powered” skateboarder. Secondly, it reminded me of the separate-sphere ideology from the firstunit in which women and men are distinctly separated by what societyfeels they are “designed” to do. Due in part apparently from what Ilearned, I have provided her with toys growing up and in a sensedirected her down the path of what is “normal” in my mind for girls todo. Knowing what I know now I am somewhat concerned about what I am teachingher by my unconscious influence. I took the picture slightly off balanceto show how many of us have skewed visions of gender and the abilitiesand skills associated with them. I can without a doubt give specificexamples of how most of the toys in the picture can cross the lines ofgender we have engrained in our minds. With that in mind I chose toincorporate in the photo, my daughter’s trophies in the background. Onthe wall behind her bed is her 2006-07 State Championship softball teamand the table is filled with just a few of the trophies she has won inthe last 3 years playing fast-pitch softball at the highest level inwhich it can be played at her age. She has become quite an athlete. Thisis actually funny when you think about the fact that this is a sportthat in its earliest stages was strictly a male sport. Hopefully this isa sign that despite my vast influence on growing her up to fit “in herbox” her Dad has had enough influence on her to make her realize we areonly defined by the barriers which we ourselves create.