I decided to take a picture of my little cousin Angel who is one year old boy. In this photo we see this little boy playing with a doll house instead of the boy toy. I decided to take this picture of him playing with a “girl toy” because it goes against social norms we have for boys. Ever since we are little we have different expectations based on our gender. Boys are expected to wear certain color that are supposed to be masculine colors like blue, red, green and black. Girls are expected to wear feminine colors like pink,violet and coral. Boy are expected to be tough, rough and more active and girls are seen as nicer, softer and more passive as stated in the article The “two Cultures”of Childhood. When boys pretend play they want to be soldiers, superheroes and truck drivers because that what society has thought them. Girls take the role of a mother, they pretend to cook, clean and take care of a baby. There might be little girls that like to play with a boy toy and people will see it as a good thing but people will never encourage a boy to play with a baby doll or any other “girl toy” because that is not a norm society has set for boys. In the photo angel is playing with the doll house because he has two older sisters that play with that doll house so he does what they do. The photo mainly focuses on him and the doll house . You can see that he is wearing blue which is a masculine color and the doll house is pink and yellow because it's considered a girl toy. In the right side you see a Bat man robot that is blue and black which he is expected to be playing with because it's a boy toy. When taking the picture the camera was looking down because that is how society sees us when we don't follow the norms that are set for our gender. The doll house takes up most of the background because it the most important part of the photo that show a social norm for a boy being broken.
1 comment:
From: Halaina
I really enjoy your photo and how it displays a young boy breaking the rules of society. It is most common for people to follow the rules and social norms society makes. This is no different for young children as well. This type of gender socialization happens before babies are even born. If you are having a boy, you might buy blue clothes or a dinosaur blanket. If a woman was having a girl, she would buy pink clothes and maybe a plush bunny with a pink bow. Boys and girls are introduced to what girl things are and what boy things are. One of the first ways they are taught these rules are with toys. I liked how you explained how the two types of two differ in color and what traits they are supposed to reinforce into children. If a child then wants to play with the other toys not associated with their gender, they are judged and told that it is wrong. Having the angle of the camera pointed at a downward angle really illustrated how overpowering society can be and how people, even children are looked down upon if the disobey social norms. The young boy in the photo playing with what society considers a girl’s toy, resembles what society should aim for. Children should not have negative reactions from their peers or adults in their life if they want to play with opposite genders things. This photo clearly demonstrates the gender norms we have today and pushes the idea that they should be broken.
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