To a regular person, this picture shows an ordinary girl playing with dolls and girly things and nothing is out of the ordinary. To someone with a background in gender studies or sociology, this picture depicts the epitome of gender socialization and norms forced on to individuals by society. By glancing around the picture, one can see many toys and other play objects used by young children. However, this photo is not black and white and one can easily determine from the colors present that it is a girl’s playroom. Unfortunately the picture itself can’t describe what dialogue took place while taking it, and I believe that adds even more value to it. I asked her “How come you have so many playhouse and action figures in your playroom?” and her immediate response was “They’re called dolls, and because dolls and playhouses are for girls.” This statement speaks for itself about how society has influenced someone as young as 6 years old that certain objects are made for certain genders. The girl is holding in her hand something of great importance, her favorite doll. She told me she likes to brush her and make her look pretty, something that she learned from her mother and older sister. In the foreground of the photo is a hot pink car, and when compared to a typical boys toy car is very different. A boy’s toy car would have an engine, sometimes removable wheels, and other mechanical pieces. In a girl’s toy car, everything is simplistic. The fact that her toy car teaches her nothing about mechanical skills shows that society believes there is nothing she needs to know about cars, because it is traditional a masculine subject matter. This picture may not be able to speak for itself, but its images portray a variety of society’s pressures on young girls and the influence society has on gender from a very young age.
2 comments:
From: Katelyn
From this photograph you can tell the differences between the two genders even when there isn’t both genders pictured. From this photograph you can see the little girl with a baby doll with a doll house in the background. I agree with your theory that girl toys and boy toys are made completely different. A lot of girl’s toys are soft and aren’t made of different part. For example, girls have baby dolls and Barbie’s that have extra pieces of clothing to dress them with or a brush to brush their hair. Where boys have toys that are able to be taken apart and put back together to teach them mechanic skills. Girl toys tend to teach them how to be a mother or caregiver where boy toys tend to teach them skills for future jobs.
From: Mina
From the picture taken you can tell the many differences between girls and boys and there toys. I completely agree with the theory because toys have been made different between the sexes because of the gender roles that we grow up in. We have dolls for little girls taking care of a baby becoming a mother. Or looking up to Barbie for beauty and how to be thin and always look your best because that's a females number one attribute in life. Than we have boys with tools and toys to be taken apart and put back together to fill a role of a construction worker. So that boys grow up to be the male dominate in the family bringing home the money in future jobs.Girl toys are primarily pink where as boy toys aren't. These types of toys that girls and boys play with are teaching them skills and other things like gender roles in society, how to be a male or female and what you should and shouldn't do as a male or female in society.
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