Our Dichotomy

From: Rose

This image is my eleven- year old son Jamie. In this photo, I am representing the dilemma Jamie and many other children face in the world today- obeying gender norms to fit societal ideals. In this photograph, there is a wrestling cage. On one side of the cage there are wrestlers and on the opposite side, his stuffed animals. Yes, he is playing with stereotypical boy toys, but he is also playing with stuffed animals, which are stereotypically girl toys. The wrestlers are threatening, aggressive: violent action figures. The goal of wrestling is to knock your opponent unconscious. In this scene, the wrestler has slammed the other wrestler on his head for the win. Boy culture teaches boys from an early age that strength and power equal success, and this idea will carry on into adulthood.

Under Jamie’s chin, he is holding his “blankie.” I enhanced the color of it to portray him challenging gender roles.” Blankies.” or safety tools, and stuffed animals are part of girl culture. Girl’s toys represent love, comfort, and caretaking. Typically, boys do not play with stuffed animals or have a blankie, and if they do, they are ridiculed. According to Martin & Ruble: “Gender schemas associate maleness and femaleness with a myriad different attributes, behaviors, and objects, defining “masculine” as rougher, tougher, and more active, while females are portrayed as nicer, softer, and more passive.” Is it acceptable to play with all toys without societal judgement?

This is the question Jamie is contemplating in the picture. He is in the middle of the frame, staring directly into the camera, and confronting this quandary. Should he follow the gender roles our culture manipulates onto people? Or should he be a leader and set a new standard? The stairs in the background represent moving forward. Will he and the other boys of his generation take the old road, or will they forge new paths into a less restricted future?

Works Cited
Rudman, Laurie A., and Peter Glick. _The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations_, The Guilford Press, 2015, pp. 59–63.