From: Delight
According to our text, the socialization of gender begins to take place in children soon after they are born. It begins from the parents who differentiate boys and girls with the color of their clothes and the kinds of toys they buy for them. The children internalize these messages as early as two years old and generalize gender stereotypes varieties of activities, objects and occupations. Children begin to imitate their same-sex parent and soon, they take after them in a number of ways. This could be seen in the above pix taken in the church on the children’s variety day. Here, TJ, the pastor’s son is seen doing the thing like “daddy”.
A number of things attracted my attention at the children’s church on that day. Girls were seen dressed in pink while the boys wore clothes varying in colors from blue to green, brown and black pants. The few boys who wore other colors had something else on to show their masculinity. While the girls played with dolls, babies and teddy bears, the boys clustered together and involved themselves in rough plays, throwing the girls’ teddy around and jumping. This is a reflection of what the society has made of gender stereotypes.
2 comments:
The photographs of boys and girls at the church setting is an interesting choice for showing indoctrination at a young age. The sheer variety of the photographs show clearly that your point is valid, that the boys are wearing what is considered to be 'masculine' (the colors such as gold, blue and brown) while the girls are wearing feminine colors (such as light green and white). But while the pictures do somewhat illustrate the point of children being indoctrinated at a very young age into their gender roles, the pictures explanation mentions that the boys who did not wear masculine clothing “had something else on to show their masculinity.” What else did they have on? From the looks of things, they didn't need anything else to show how 'manly' they were.
And while the Pastor's son imitating his father may have been a boy trying to imitate the male figure in his life, it can't be dismissed as just a boy imitating another man. It could be that the boy is genuinely interested in what his father does for a living and feels the need to try it out, in his own childish way. The type of pictures taken, overall made it seem as if there were more males than females at the church get-together. Was that the case, or was it an equal amount of both? The boys horsing around with the girl's bears and toys would've been a good inclusion in showing how children are indoctrinated, except that there don't seem to be any pictures of it happening in the collage as is.
This photo yet again reiterated the old "boys will be boys" concept. While the girls are seen as passive and doing quiet, "girlie" things, the males are doing what society has instilled in them. That being the idea that a "real" boy is rough, tough, and may if he so desires, tease the young girls by taking their toys and taunting them.
A very accurate and persuasive photo of just how deep socialization of gender runs in children!
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