I chose to take a picture of my little cousin Livia who is two years old. She was born to a Japanese American mother and African American father. While being mixed race can already be confusing for young children my uncle and my aunt wanted to make sure her gender was something that would not be confusing to her. When I first found out I was going to have a new baby girl cousin of course my first instinct was to go through my old dolls and dresses and day dream about putting her hair in bright pink bows and high ponytails. But little did I know this was not going to be happening. I received a baby shower invitation and written in bold letters at the bottom was ABSOLUTLEY NO PINK PLEASE. My first thought was, wait she is a girl right? I thought it was strange but I carried out their wishes and bought her nothing pink. At the baby shower I asked my uncle why they would not allow her to wear pink. He explained to me that he did not want her to think her gender was based upon colors, or make up or dresses. He wanted her to be who she wanted to be without having to conform to gender norms. Now that Livia is two years old I have seen her in a dress once, never in pink, and she owns not a single doll and she is probably one of the happiest little girl's you will ever meet. In the picture she is seen wearing one of her everyday outfits (that she usually picks out) a blue shirt and black pants. She is surrounding by some of her favorite toys which are stuffed animals not dolls or cooking equipment which is usually given to young girls at this age. One of her favorite toys to play with is actually a truck but the truck is not allowed inside her tent she says. The tent was a gift for her second birthday and I'm sure she did not even notice the color she just liked the polka dots. You will also notice that her hair is relatively short in the picture, she chose to have her hair short because she does not like when it gets in her face when she plays. And yeah you guessed it it does not make her any less of a girl. She has never seen a Disney movie meaning she is not aware of any of the Disney princesses. I chose to have her be the center of the picture but in her tent to show her happiness just playing. I do not think what you wear or the shows you watch or even the toys you play with define your gender. Especially with children they can be just as happy playing with a truck as they will be playing with a doll whether they are a boy or a girl. I also chose to have her toys laying around her rather than in her hand to represent children's short attention spans. They can be playing with one toy and on to another one the next minute and still be smiling and happy. Parents put a lot of pressure on young children to act this way but not that way based on their gender which can lead to problems later in adulthood. I think it is great to teach young girls that just because you do not have long hair, or wear dresses, or make up does not make you any less of a girl. Be who you want to be and do not let anyone or anything define who you are.
1 comment:
From Racheal:
I really enjoy this photograph. I believe the tent could represent the good parenting style. The child is inside the tent to show the protectiveness the parents subdued her to. It represents her being covered from the outside cultural behavior. I believe the tent can help the child be who she really wants to be without anyone telling her who she is supposed to be. I also believe that the tent is the child’s comfort zone. In the tent she picked her outfit, those toys, and left the truck outside the tent. I believe she left the truck toy out of the tent because she wasn’t comfortable having that into her comfort zone. The toys inside the tent represent the aspects of her life that she is comfortable with. Even down to the hair cut she chose. She chose that haircut because she wanted to be the most comfortable while she had fun. Also the window on the tent is how the child sees the outside world. Since she was not exposed to cultural behavior with gender roles through family and the media, she sees the world in a different perspective than others. She sees the world in a tiny fogged window because she isn’t getting the full aspect of the “culture”. Since she isn’t exposed to the culture norms, she will be raised morally right but might get socially ridicule.
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