Opposing Sides‏

From: Shannon

Little boys and little girls are taught from a very young age what they should and shouldn’t play with or what types of activities they should enjoy. Little boys are told they should like to get dirty and play outside. While little girls are told they should like to stay neat, clean, and play with baby dolls or fake miniature kitchens. Little boys are taught that they should stay within their realm of toy guns, cars, sports, playing with dirt and getting dirty. If a little boy is to try something outside this box, there is nothing nice for him to be called. But for little girls, this is not the same, they are told that they can play with little girl toys but they can also stretch into the other realm to play sports or learn how to work with cars. Most people would just call those little girls “tomboys” with absolutely no negative connotation involved. I decided to take a picture that captured this phenomenon. I wanted to capture that it is okay for a girl to be absolutely girly while doing what is typically considered a boy activity but that even is a boy looks boyish he still can’t do something that would be considered a girl’s activity. For my picture I told the two children to dress in whatever they wanted that said they were a boy and girl respectively. As can be seen, the little girl chose something very much over the top that screams “I AM A GIRL”. She picked a holiday dress with a big bow and polka dots with a big skirt and very dressy shoes (it can’t be seen in the picture but they have flowers on them). The little boy chose his favorite football player’s jersey and a casual pair of jeans with sneakers. This shows completely how boys and girls are taught their masculinity and femininity from childhood. In their minds, this is how they are supposed to look for it to be known they are little girls and boys. Next, I asked them to come outside and told her I wanted her to do something a little boy would do. She chose to climb a tree, with no problem at all. When I turned to the little boy and told him I was going to have him do a girly activity he looked at me like I had lost my mind. He told me that he couldn’t do that because he would be humiliated, that little boys weren’t supposed to play with baby dolls and strollers. This is not something that he thought up on his own, these are things he is taught by his parents, teachers, and peers. After some sweet talking, I got him to pose for the picture for me. The picture is indeed set up. I asked the little girl to act like she was making fun of him for playing with her dolls while she climbed a tree. I asked him to look like “why are you making fun of me? You play with these too!” All of these exemplifies how the social norms of gender roles are socially constructed and causing as an end result for boys being trapped or allowed to only do certain things. The way society regards the two genders and their specific roles allows for girls to have a much broader range of things they can do but it’s not the same for boys. This is a huge double standard especially to be put onto children when as humans we are supposed to be free and careless.