We aren't intrinsically born gendered. Rather, we learn gender schemas and codes and then go on to perform these gender rituals in society. But what happens when you're a little girl raised in a home that's inundated with 'masculine' activities because you've got older brothers? I tried to explore that concept in my photo Ballin' Brother. The leading lines of the backdrop move the eye across the photo so you slowly put together the story - at first we see a little, tomboyish girl surrounded by athletics trophies, but then we see that she's watching her older brother shoot a basketball. This gives the message that she's learning her behavior from him. This girl is not magically drawn to barbies and baby dolls because of her chromosomes; she learns how to behave by the behaviors she observes around her, just like everybody else.
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This photo depicts some of the first few topics that were talked about in class. One of the very first topics in The Social Psychology of Gender book that we had to read was on, "Avoiding Simplistic Essentialism" (6-7), and both Laurie Rudman and Peter Glick gave some very interesting insight on this specific topic. This photo depicts a degree of exactly that: avoiding essentialism among other important insight and topics. As this blog makes a point it also high lights the argument, What determines who we are? What or who determines a boy or man and what or who determines a girl or woman? Is it our genetics? Is it our culture? Is it societies norms? As I read this blog, I understood that the writer was talking about female and male differences either coming from biological sex differences or these differences coming from socialization and culture. I believe it is some of both but I will leave that for the theorists, researchers, and scientists to decide. More importantly, in observing the photo, I see this female as having some male qualities or even characteristics. And more so, the writer used the word, "tomboy". The words and the picture gives me the idea that maybe it is better to, as the book says, "avoid essentialism", when it comes to talking about gender. Society has labels and a lot of things, including gender, is categorized. This picture has a rebellious approach in relation to these categories. To put it best the picture gives light to the changing gender norms. And what society calls normal today has changed over the decades. I would believe that maybe there is no category to place a man or woman because each person may have a little of both gender in them. Society, at one point, labeled men as one way and women as another, and this picture just goes to prove that gender roles have mixed into each other. How males and females should feel, act, or think is no longer "fixed" or "immutable" (Rudman et al. 7).
From another point of view, this blog could be seen as the development of gender relations. As young children their innate nature is to not associate with the opposite sex. She is looking at him in a way that says. “I want to play basketball too”. By displaying her array of sport trophies, she is stating that she is clearly capable of being in a competitive game. This would be an example of stepping over the boundaries of gender schemas and participating in cross sex play.
He is not looking at her and is continuing to play ball. This behavior is saying he is not interested in cross sex play. He could be thinking that this would be breaking the social rules by interacting with a girl. He would not be able to explain to his group why he was playing with a girl.
I believe that a person does what they observe. Because your sister was the only girl she observed all of her brothers doing manly sports which includes basketball. Our society today paints a picture that just because you are a girl you have to play with doll babies or wear pink and if you are guy you should play hard sports and wear blue. I think that if you observe something and you are comfortable doing it, you should be able to do it with out someone thinking you are violating gender codes.
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