This is a photo that I took of my older brother Matthew cooking, while my nephew Paul plays along. You can see that Paul is clearly imitating his father's movements, watching closely and mimicking the way he is both holding and cutting the green pepper almost exactly. Even his toy food looks like a green pepper - he chose one that looked just like his dad's. This displays how children learn through observation. What fascinated me about this image was that it defies traditional gender roles, as women are traditionally those expected to spend time in the kitchen cooking and take care of the children in the home. My brother is an aspiring chef, and with this goal he is helping to show my nephew that men can cook too, and do not have to fit into certain categories when it comes to profession or lifestyle.
4 comments:
One observation I made about this photo that defies traditional gender roles is that most kitchens have are decorated to look more feminine, mainly due to the fact that women spend the most time in the kitchen. Traditionally they cook the all the meals and clean all the dishes, rarely do you see a male spending time in the kitchen. In this picture the kitchen is very neutral. The hand towels are green, the walls look like a light brown or dark tan color, nothing is representing that this is only a females work area. This is allowing your nephew to feel comfortable learning how to cook and not feel as though he is stepping out his expected gender role by doing so. Another observation I made was proportionally speaking, the child is closer to the camera than the adult. To me this is representing that children are our future and if we want change in stereotyping gender roles then we need to start with our child and teach them that boys aren’t just tough guys and girls aren’t just capable of doing house chores. I personally would like to see a lot more of children defying traditional gender roles both male and female.
I like this picture because it shows how easily chlidren are influenced. It also argues that if children are exposed to "untraditional" gender roles, they are more likely to pursue those roles rather than a child who was brought up to "be a man."
I almost feel like this photo has a false representation of the reality of a chef. "Traditionally" we know that women are see as the primary care takers who are responsible for the majority of the cooking and cleaning. However in recent times men have not only flocked to the culinary arts but have been successful in dominating the field.Being the highest paid with the most prestige. When a man introduces himself as a chef their is very little if no criticism at all. Also children of chefs either boy or girl are also often encouraged to pursue the same or similar careers. Food preparation in my opinion is not as much a victim of the social constructs of gender as items like toys or color choices. Encouraging your son to be involved in a field like culinary arts that is dominated by males is no more aiding in social change as encouraging him to be a surgeon or a lawyer. If defying gender roles is what the goal is then why not a nurse or a elementary school teacher. professions that are vastly out numbered by women. there is on area of gray with those jobs. A little boy helping his uncle prepare a meal is admirable but not quite out of the male spectrum.
This is probably one of the most interesting pictures i've seen out of the group so far. I like how the photographer is stepping out of the box to switch up the gender roles we normally see. I think this needs to start happening much more often in real life, not just in boys but in girls too.
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