In my picture, I have a mother and son. The dump truck is the brightest thing in the photograph which immediately takes up the viewers’ attention. Gendered toys permeate every aspect of play in children’s lives; everything about toys are gendered into two categories; male or female. Boys’ toys are tougher and built to withstand rough play while girls’ toys are soft and made to be played with gently; for example the dump truck is metal and simulates the experience of being a construction worker which is usually a gendered job in the work force. Most gendered jobs come from the aspect of play. When shopping for nurse toys; most of them are pick with hearts on them while a doctor’s bag is blue and not as girly. The toys we play with as children have lasting effects on what jobs we choose and other choices we make every day. The mother is showing the boy how it works, so that he can participate in more scripted play. Scripted play has taken over the market of children’s toys in recent years. More and more toys are being made for one purpose; to imitate. I wanted to show how young scripted play actually begins for children. He is looking down at the dump truck to show that he is learning gender roles through playing with his dump truck. The dump truck is supposed to be representative of gender roles on a higher level; not just for toys and how they are gendered but how we teach gender roles in general. Learning gender starts as early as birth. Most parents pick boy or girl clothes and start conditioning their children for their societal roles on the first day. Baby toys are gendered as well hippos and lion stuffed animals are chosen for boys while bunnies and bears are chosen for girls. Toys from the beginning to the end of childhood condition us to be a certain gender and follow those specific scripts. My photograph was trying to convey how toys play an integral part in how children learn gender roles.
2 comments:
From: MG
The way the background horizon goes from darker on the left to lighter on the right can display a sort of scale: how society is very interested in getting boys to play with their stereotypically gendered toys (the lighter end symbolizing goodness). The mother's face is not shown as well as the boy's face which may suggest that it does not matter exactly who teaches the boy how to play, but that he is learning from everyone and everything around him. Neither of the subjects are looking at the camera, which could show that they are more focused on playing in the moment rather than the larger implications of what gendered play can mean for the future. The lightness on the boy's side of the photograph can also symbolize the purness that he still has while being so young.
From: Maiah
The mother and the son are both completely focused on the dump truck, their eyes unmistakably set on it. This emphasizes the role of the dump truck in their interaction as well as its importance. I think this shows how the interactions between parents and children are almost preconstructed and limited to society’s accepted socializations. The toy represents the role that is trying to be taught to the child, and both the mother and son are looking at it as it is more capable of guiding the child than the mother is, or even the child himself. It’s the fact that they are focused more on an object that teaches gender scripts than their actual interaction and play time together. Genuine human interaction and play time is the best way for a child to learn about the world and themselves, but it has been reduced to the power of a dump truck, a “boy’s toy”.
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