From Ariel
I took this photo during one of my rehearsals for Broadneck Dance Company a few months ago; I found it significant because it illustrates gender socialization so clearly. Notice that there are no males in this picture; that is because there aren't any on Dance Company. In fact, in all of the years that I have been dancing I have met very few guy dancers. This photo really shows how we are taught, through gender socialization, that certain things are for girls and certain things are for boys. Parents often choose to put their little girl in ballet instead of something like soccer or football, just like parents choose to have their little boy play lacrosse or basketball. Dancing is never really looked at as something a boy should be doing, it's not considered manly, just like crying and wearing pink. Just like society looks down on men who wear pink and cry, it looks down on men who dance. Although the girls in this picture were not forced into dance and they do it just because they like it, there is a huge chance that they started to dance because of their mom signing them up when they were young, instead of signing them up for something that is thought of as a man's sport. This decision that our parents make for us so early in life shapes who we become as a person, what our likes and interests are, and how we think of gender roles.
7 comments:
I really liked the idea of this photo. Before I took Women's Studies, it never really hit me that everything men, women, boys, and girls do is chosen for us by society. There was 1 male cheerleader at my high school out of all 4 years that I attended and most people assumed that he was homosexual without knowing anything about him, no one knew he had a girlfriend. I think these stereotypes need to be erased to make this world be completely equal one day.
It is true that there are few boys and men involved in dance. I have danced with a couple different studios and companies since I was three and have met hundreds of female dancers, but I have only met a couple dozen male dancers. I agree that most people don’t see dance as being manly. I’ve heard this opinion stated many times by fathers or friends to young boys who express a desire for dance. The fathers or friends tell the boys things like: dancing is for girls, girls do ballet and boys do sports, you’ll be picked on by your friends if you dance. I find this very funny because for years at the beginning of theatre women where not allowed on stage, therefore men had to perform not only male role but female roles as well. We have almost made a complete turn around from this because now the majority of people in dance and theatre are female. As I said, I started dance when I was three years old, this is because my mom, like so many other moms, signed their daughter up for dance in the hopes that she would be a precious little ballerina. In my case the decision my mom made was a great one because to this day I still love dancing and have even tried to pursue it as a career. However, there are a lot of girls who turn away from dancing because it was something that there mom wanted for them and not something that they wanted for themselves. This is an example of how some moms influence their daughters to conform to gender socialization.
I really like this idea. My younger sister dances at a dance company, and being around this environment a lot i can tell that there is very little boys who dance. I know of a few and at first i automatically think that they're gay. I know this is wrong but it just comes to mind. I think that the society plays a very important role in this. Society some how made being a dancer be a "girl" thing to do. When all the little girls a young their parents put them in dance. They don't put them in football or wrestling, they dance. and for a boy to go outside the box and dance is weird to some people.
The idea that males do not belong in dancing classes probably does come from the way their parents label male dancers. Many parents think that if their son wants to sign up for dance lessons that he will be gay and incourage their sons to play other sports such as basketball or football. I think these stereotypes that prevent males from pursing activities that are labeled girly such as dancing are slowly diminishing due to shows such as dancing with the stars that make male dancer seem elegant and romantic. Even though it is now the 21st century and males as well as females are increasingly incouraged to pursue whatever they want, I think because of these kinds of parents, you will never see a lot of males in a dance class.
This picture shows how men and women are taught to do different things simply because of their sex. Although there are no boys on the dance team, this doesn’t necessarily mean that boys can’t dance. I’m sure there are many boys who are great dancers, but were afraid to join the team because of how others would judge them. Most people would assume they were homosexual. Even though there may be equal opportunities for men and women, people still worry of having their feelings hurt, so instead they stay where society can accept them.
I like this photo a lot because it a perfect example of how girls and boys can be stereotyped into certain activities. When people think of the dance they automatically think of girls. And if they do encounter a male dancer, he must be gay. I think these assumptions and stereotypes people make about certain activities has a negative affect on young people who are still trying to figure out who they are. There's a lot of pressure on kids to fit in and going against these stereotypes only makes life harder.
When I first saw your picture, I thought it was of girl wrestlers. I wondered why there were so many girl wrestlers and no boys because we know that girls are not taught to be aggressive and children are "punished" when they are acting gender inappropriate. If you had photographed these girls in a more "feminine" position, on the barre for example, I think there would be more of a connection between dance and the femininity associated with it. All of the girls lined up on the barre could have also shown conformity: how girls look to each other to find out what is "feminine."
You also could have added how the high ceilings draw attention to the lights in the studio. The panels on the wall drew my eye's attention to the bright lights at the top of the ceiling, which could represent how young girls can be blinded by other's impressions, like their parents as you described. If parents influence their girls to dance because the parents think that is a feminine/girl activity, then the child's ideas are blinded by the parent's ideas.
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