From early childhood children learn conversation rituals. Although most children mirror their parents as well as other adults they don’t realize that they are building conversation rituals this young. Because boys and girls grow up in different worlds or words, talk between them can be cross-culture communication.
In the chapter “Development of Gender Relations” the “two cultures” section talked about the differences between little boys and girls. It’s a culture phenomenon that’s boys are associated with blue and girls with pink. Studies show that girls use conversation to establish similarity and connection. They try to emphasize sameness. They would much rather interact with other girls. When girls are talking they tend to face each other, be fully focused, and have direct eye contact.Boys on the other hand, use conversation to establish status, which involves “one upping” each other. When boys are talking they tend to both face forward or side by side, their full attention is not in the conversation, and they almost never have direct eye contact.
My photograph shows what happens when you put two different gender/cultures together. As clearly visible, the photograph was taken from a high angle. Such an angle was intended to convey perspective of looking down; this is the view most adults have when interacting with young children. I chose the green couch because green represents wealth and masculinity, even though the boy (Jacob) is not looking at the camera or the girl (Madison) he dominates the photo because he is in the center. Madison is on the right side of Jacob because the right side of a brain is more visual oriented and involved in activities, basically exactly what Jacob is doing. In Jacobs hands is a train and batman car, I chose these toys because both seemed to be age and gender appropriate. Of course you notice that Jacob is wearing blue the color associated with male children it represents masculinity and strength. On his shirt it says “American Football”, a male dominate sport. Where as Madison is wearing pink, the color associated with female children to show childlike personality and innocence. On her shirt it says “Peace” with several peace signs, hearts, and rainbows to portray happiness in little girls. Madison is sitting up straight with her hands on her hips and legs in a cris cross position her facial expression shows that she is extremely angry that Jacob is not listening to her. Jacob is in more of a relaxed position with his hands both holding a toy, the direction of his face and eyes shows that his attention is on the toys in his hands.
In this picture we know Madison is angry and wondering “why isn’t he listening to me?” but in actual life we know that girls and boys don’t use the same style/ approach when conversing. Even though Jacob is playing with his toys how do we really know he’s not listening also?
2 comments:
This Photo clearly shows the conversation rituals that boys and girls learn at a very young age. This also shows the perceived lack of communication that takes place when the rituals are cross-gendered. The girl in the photo is trying to use her ritual of engaging the listener with eye-contact (though to no avail). She is visibly frustrated by what looks to be the boys lack of paying attention. However, boys are not taught to have their attention on the speaker in this setting (evidenced by his attention to the toy). The communication breakdown occurs because the two are taught to converse in two opposite ways. Which causes the conflict in the photo.
This photo shows the roles children start learning at a very young age. The girl is upset because the young boy is paying no attention to her. This is typical of young boys because when they are young they are expected to be a "real man" which means not talking or playing with girls, if they do, they are more likely to be teased and called a "sissy" or "fag". Society teaches young boys to be rough and stay away from the opposite sex by reinforcing male characteristics and activities, such as rough play and being tough, while young girls are supposed to be more subtle and play with dolls and be the caretakers. The picture shows how much of an impact these boy/girl rituals have on young children. The young boy will not pay attention to her because he has learned from older males and males his own age that it is not acceptable.
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