I choose to photograph my sister in this certain situation because it completely portrays the "Two Cultures of Childhood" and the relevancy in today's children. As you can see, the "boy like" toys are pushed in the corner of her room while she surrounds herself in very feminine toys. I put the picture together this way to show how gender stereotypes are pushed on children at such an early age by having princess role models and baby dolls for caring for. Also, it shows that because of higher influences, children dissociate with the other gender's toys because they learn very quickly that that's not what they are supposed to play with. I asked my sister "Do you want to play with the army dog?" and she quickly responded with "No, that's a boy's toy!".
2 comments:
This photo explains the over exaggerated market of children's toys, clothes, bedding, etc. At such a young age, there really are no gender neutral toys or clothes. When children are exposed to "girl" toys and "boy" toys so often, they quickly learn what is acceptable for them to play with. The boys toys that are shoved into the corner represent the child's unwillingness to cross these gender norms because of what they are exposed to in the media. On commercials for children's toys you don't see a group of girls playing with their new hot wheels set and a boy playing with his baby doll. Therefore children will mimic what they see on TV, which is to play with toys that are geared towards their gender. This photo also illustrates the messages we send to young girls by giving them only toys deemed acceptable for girls by society. By giving little girls only princesses, baby dolls, and kitchen sets, we are only giving them a skill set in typically low paying jobs. Media has made it so that even if we wanted our little girls and boys to be exposed to other kinds of play, they likely would not take well because it is "only for boys" or "only for girls".
Can we say "PINK"! This photo screams girl! It looks like I am walking down Wal-Mart’s girl toy aisle; with the princesses, the baby dolls, and the play kitchen. Cooking has been gender biased for years. I remember having a play kitchen, but my boy cousin didn’t. Young children are greatly influenced by society and parents. If you make “boy toys” available for girls to play with, they all scream “no, that’s for boys”. It is vice versa with boys. It is almost like its offensive one would even mention the opposite sex’s gender biased toys on them. This photo stood out to me because of the vibrant color pink. When I glance at the other photos, the dull, dark, and gloomy ones are describing “boy” themes. Just by glancing at this photo, it was very obvious that you constructed your topic to be able girls, but well it was an appreciated photo. It brought back memories of myself as a young girl and when we talked about the “princess phenomenon”.
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