As children, women are taught to nurture their dolls and stuffed animals. In this photograph, the girl is throwing the stuffed animal at us, symbolically throwing traditional gender scripts out, while simultaneously looking as if she has just been caught and is about to be punished by her peers. In the photograph, the blue and pink lighting is used as a metaphor for the gendered society in which we live. For a girl to break the social norms, she may not be punished as severely as a boy. As girls grow up, they are forced to pick between the gender scripts assigned to them or be labeled an ‘outcast’ or a ‘freak’ by their peers. For this assignment, I wanted to portray the choice of gender roles, and the box that we as a society enforce on people to obey.
2 comments:
Gender rolls play a huge part in both women and men, everyone wants to be accepted and liked by their fellow peers. In this picture the little girl is throwing the doll instead of playing with it like the “normal” young girls would do. Also her hair is cut pretty short, with the gender norm for girls we are used to seeing the guys with the short hair and the girls with the long hair. I like the idea of the two colors, pink and blue, because it makes the statement that she doesn’t need to pick whether she is JUST a girly girl or JUST a tomboy. It’s showing that she can be both, a strong and beautiful young woman.
This photo is extremely effective in expressing how it feels for a young person who is going against the norm. Typically, in most societies, girls and boys are forced into these roles that they are expected to play. If they choose to rebel against them, and in this way become an individual, they are often scorned or looked down upon. This angle of the photo is particularly effective in portraying both the idea of society looking down on this person for rebelling, and how it feels to rebel. The expression on the subjects face makes them seem as if they have been "caught in the act" of doing something wrong, which, in turn, makes the idea of rebelling against the norm seem wrong. This is precisely what society pushes on young people. It is wrong to rebel, and you will be punished for it. It is good to conform, you will be rewarded for it. But will you be happy? Another important element of the photo is the color. The idea that you can only identify with one color - or in many people's eyes, one gender - is exactly what is wrong with people's understanding of the sexual spectrum. The idea that you have to choose one can be very conflicting for many people who don't feel they identify with either one. This can cause a lot of torment in young people's minds.
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