Male and Female Culture

From: Trishauna

This photo relates to the subtopic of “The Two Cultures of Childhood” in unit five. This is a photo of my younger sister who is eight years old holding her favorite baby doll. She is looking down at the doll as if she was an actual caring mother. This toy prepares her for motherhood when she comes of age to do so. I believe that toys like this set up a barrier between boys and girls like how in local stores such as Walmart, you will find an aisle full of toys for girls and an aisle full of toys for boys. I believe that boys and girls should play with whatever toy they choose despite the toy being more for boys or a toy being for girls. There are things that men could learn from playing with girl toys such as caring for babies when they decide to have one at a later age, cooking, cleaning, etc. There are also things that girls can learn such as, logic, engineering, team building which can be learned in multiplayer video games, etc.

The article states “Both sexes play with miniaturized human figures that encourage them to engage in fantasy role-playing. But as any boy will tell you, an action figure is most definitely not a doll and the two are used quite differently.” Girl toys tend to push women in the direction of being a good wife in their future. A boy’s toy is used more aggressively whereas a girl would be gentler with her doll or pony. A boy toy gives a boy the feeling of being powerful like when boys hold Nerf guns or water guns they pretend to be a soldier in a war with their dad or friends or even a football so that a boy will be more athletic and possibly want to apply for a sports career. Whereas a girl toy would be a little house with four dolls to make a family and she would pretend to live a normal life in the household where the wife would cook, the husband would be at work, and the kids would be at school.

I took this picture in my sister’s bedroom. Her room is decorated with pink curtains and a pink bed sheet since pink is seen more of a girly color, unlike my step brother’s room that is purple and gold and is filled with nothing but football related things. The colors in his room represent his favorite football team. I am slowly trying to get my sisters in playing with more boyish themed toys and video games such as Skylanders or Overwatch and sometimes my step brother lets them play with his old nerf gun because we want to break the idea of “gender norms” and we want them to gain the full benefit of learning from each gender determined toy so that they can possibly grow up with not only to have the knowledge to be good mothers, but to also have an open mind to possible careers that are not gender specific.