From: KP
My photo setting is in a 4 year old boy’s room who seems to like the typical “boy” stuff. I applied a gray scale onto the entire picture except for the Barbie, and the unicorn which I left in color. The reason I chose to do this method was to show that unconsciously when we walk into a boy’s room most would instantly be drawn to the “girl toys” and maybe have the question pop into our head like “why does he have that?” Socially we think if a boy does something dealing with what we see as for a “girl” or playing with “girl toys” they are seen/ labeled as wimps, sissy, etc. But if a girl does something dealing what we see as for a “boy” or plays with “boy toys” she is labeled as a “tom-boy”. These girls as our book states may be tolerated as “one of the guys” (pg. 58). Most of us don’t try to think this way as if it was just an unconscious thought, but its just how we were socially brought up as well. I also took this photo from a 4 year old child's point of view or height so it could also be said that in the photo the boy is trying to hide the fact that he has the “girl toys” by hiding them in the cabinet to avoid his peers from seeing the “girl toys” in his room. Children even at the age of 2 starts developing gender socialization so it’s understandable that a 4 year old would be able to know the difference and what people see as “boy toys” and “girl toys”. It is sad though that children sometimes feel the need to hide their toys or other things to avoid the judgment because “Society” says its “Different” or “Odd”. This is something that I have viewed some companies are beginning to change and make a difference by making toys that are neutral and not pin pointed to one specific gender but of course there will always been those companies that gain from this not thinking about how we are teaching our children these ways of separating boys and girls and not creating an equal environment where boys and girls can do whatever they want with no judgment on if its masculine or feminine and allowing children to genuinely just be themselves.
1 comment:
This photo was a great example of unacceptable behaviors as a boy or a girl. Your choice to make everything black and white symbolizes how negative it can be for our little boys to believe it’s unacceptable not to play at all with girl things. To keep the girl toys in color shows where the focus is for anyone who walks into the room. No matter how messy that room was in your background, your right someone would of completely seen the “girl toys.” We should be raising kids to be who they want to be.
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