My nephew, Mason, is a vibrant, flamboyant, witty and kind 6-year-old boy. He loves watching Paw Patrol and playing with his Batman action figures; but, he also loves baby dolls, brushing and doing his Grammy’s hair, and watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. Mason is content and unaware of the damaging stereotypes around him. He does not see a problem with blurting out “LOOK! He is really cute!” and he seems to be very aware of the “girls part” and “boys part” of Walmart; however, his awareness does not make him think twice about bolting down the baby doll aisle. I chose this photo of him to give some insight on some of the elements in childhood that are gendered and to also foreshadow the introduction of the “Tough Guise” persona that my nephew could soon be faced with.
In the photo that I took of Mason, he is standing in front of a large selection of dolls and pointing right at the one he wants. With his buzz cut hair and baggy attire, one can easily tell that he is a young boy. The color pink surrounds him as if the aisle was color coded by gender, but he does not mind. I fear that the days that we have with this Mason are numbered. He lets us know when he is hurt, scared or sad. He loves spending time with his sister and he does not see a problem with her sticking up for him. He loves to sing, dance and put on musical shows for all of the family. As I said, Mason is a vibrant, flamboyant and witty kid; I fear that we will lose his personality to the “Tough Guise” persona.
I made Mason black and white to symbolize a clean slate. The world has not left its impression on him yet and he has not yet fallen into the society’s gender norms. Jackson Katz describes the ‘tough guise’ as “a way to feel like a man, the only model they can think of” (Katz, Tough Guise). I do not want Mason to one day feel like he has to present himself as the stereotypical form of masculinity. As of right now, he likes what he likes and he does not see an issue with that. He does not hold himself to the societal pressure to shop in the boy’s section every single time. He is just now dipping his toes into self-exploration and as he gets older, his colors will show. I hope that he fills himself with all the colors of the rainbow, and does not settle for just the color blue.
I angled the photo so that his tiny stature was prominent and also so that the section of toys looked never ending from any direction; almost as if he is being engulfed in ‘girl’s toys’. I wanted the angle of the photo to come off as overwhelming to the viewer. The media forces these motherly, feminine ideologies down young girl’s throats thus resulting in a seemingly never ending array of baby dolls; from ones that cry and poop, to ones that always look like their sleeping. Children are surrounded by too many options, choices and binaries. The messages that are thrown at kids surrounding masculinity and being feminine are overwhelming, so I want the viewer to see the anxiety a child might encounter when having to pick a toy amongst all the gender specific options. Not all kids feel it is okay to “violate gender norms” as Judith E. Owens Blakemore says in Children’s Beliefs About Violating Gender Norms: Boys Shouldn’t Look Like Girls, and Girls Shouldn’t Act Like Boys. In the photo, Mason literally has gender confinements and stereotypes towering over him; however, he is still safe in his own sense of self and very confident in his baby doll choice.
I used centering on Mason and lightly blurred his surroundings to give an “all eyes on me” type of effect. I chose to do this as a representation of the judgement he faces currently and the judgement he is bound to face one day. People do stare, give him a weird eye or make comments when he frolics through the pink aisles of Walmart. In our society, it is weird and abnormal for a young boy to want to play with toys that are made for girls. As he gets older, that ideology is going to grow much stronger. There is going to come a time where the seemingly inevitable “tough guise” is going to stare him in the face and he is going to be faced with a choice: To do what he wants or to do what everyone else wants him to do. It is very important that boys are taught that it is okay to show emotion and like Jackson Katz says: “…we have to show that vulnerability, compassion and caring are also part of what it means to become a ‘real man’” (Katz, Tough Guise).
Through centering, manipulation of color and symbolism, I hope I did my nephew justice. I hope to capture his innocence and his blissful oblivion to the societal pressures that surround him. This project made me appreciate him a little bit more for who he is. I have faith that through love and acceptance, he will find all of his colors.
Blakemore, J.E.O. Sex Roles (2003) 48: 411. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023574427720
Jhally, Sut, Susan Ericsson, Sanjay Talreja, Jackson Katz, and Jeremy Earp. Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation, 1999
5 comments:
From: Emily
As someone who grew up with a mixture of toys and a lack of gender awareness as a kid, I walked around the toy aisles with the same amount of confidence. Mason, as showed in this picture, wants the toy that he wants, regardless of what color it is. Having the overwhelming pink around the subject is a great way to signify the overwhelming power that a store has on the influence of separate sphere ideology. The high angle of the picture can also represent that same overwhelming presence of influence and can also add to your interpretation of other adults that might be judging the subject while simply passing by. The slight motion blur of his surroundings immediately makes me to continue to think of the overwhelming nature that is a toy aisle. So many similar choices with tiny variations that is the reality of most baby doll aisle, but the subject knows exactly what he wants. In the picture, the subject also seems to be pointing to an African American baby doll, which can also show, not just the gender blindness, but also the color blindness in the subject. Most young Caucasian girls would not have a black doll (let alone a black doll with natural hair) in their collection. So, the fact that a young boy, that is not only wants to confidently to have a baby doll in his toy collection, also wants a black baby doll, shows that Mason has not had to think about either problems that come into play when it comes to the separate cultures of children toys yet.
From: Maddie
This photo does such an excellent job at showing how we all learn and are taught these gender-strict behaviors. Mason does not have the ideas in his head yet that blue is for boys and pink is for girls. He doesn’t see that a baby doll is for a girl and a truck is for a boy. Even though he is aware of these gender roles, he has not abided by them. The creative technique of making him black and white has allowed major impact for the meaning of the photo. He has not been forced into a gender norm, he is just enjoying being a child and using his imagination.
The use of blurring as a creative technique also gives the photo powerful meaning. The idea of “all eyes on me” is all too relatable in this society of strict gender norms. People give judgmental looks and opinions because they believe it to be wrong or confusing for a boy to be playing with a girl toy and vice versa. The “tough guise” idea does not support a boy playing with a doll, so we believe it is wrong because he could potentially learn characteristics such as nurturing or cleaning which is traditionally a woman’s job. The blurring allows us to see that when we make decisions not focused on traditional masculinity, everyone else will take notice and most likely not approve. With all of the creative techniques used, along with the title “Finding His Colors”, this photograph portrays strong meaning of what it is to be a boy or a girl and how all of the decisions made in life can be based around these two strict choices we have been confined to.
This photo really hit home to me. I have two younger bothers, and watching them grow up I can relate to this very much. I really liked how you made your nephew black and white to represent a clean slate, and how “untouched” he was. Over all this made me sad to read because I have seen first-hand what society puts into little boy’s heads as they grow up before they are exposed to things like the “tough guise” persona. I liked also how you blurred everything our around your nephew and the toys to make those the main focus of the photo, over all great work!
I chose this photo because I can relate to it so heavily watching my little brother grow up. He was the only boy of 8 grandchildren, so he was constantly influenced by both gender schemas. My brother enjoyed hunting and fishing with my grandfather and uncles, but he also loved playing with my makeup and having my little cousins dress him up in princess outfits. I can imagine how torn and confused my brother felt when he started to grow up and be impacted by children’s opinions in school. The photographer did an amazing job conveying how overwhelmed my brother (and the young boy in the photograph) must have felt deciding on which toy he should choose without being judged by his father or peers. I love how the younger boy in this photo is clear and in black and white, but the toys are blurred and vibrant. It symbolizes how blind children are to these gender schemas forced in society today. People (including my family) where extremely judgmental and critiqued my brother for enjoying something out the social norm, that was also out of there comfort zone. Then, when my brother reached high school and didn’t want to play sports or hang out with the typical “jocks” he was labeled as a “loser”. He had interests, he loved to do certain activities, but they weren’t labeled as extremely masculine, so he chose to stay home and play video instead of joining the clubs that would label him as even more of a “loser”. Due to these gender schemas by brother felt isolated and alone most of his childhood.
From: Diego
I chose to comment on this photo because it is one that I can relate to. Now that I am older my older sister is constantly reminding me of how I used to play with her barbies. Although I can only remember a couple of times where I was actually playing with her dolls I do remember how opposed my dad was to me playing my sisters toys and dolls. Now that I am older I think back and see how harmless it was for me to play with those dolls. I was unaware of the stereotypes surrounding what I was doing at the time. In this photo I can see many of the techniques that she used in this photo. Putting the boy in the center of the picture in neutral colors surrounded by pink was a way of showing how the gender codes and stereotypes have not yet affected the boy. It also shows how the boy does not know anything about the tough guise or the gender codes that many put on to children at a young age. The effects the toys have, and the angle of the photo can make the boy seem small and make the toys overwhelming. This photo is really important because it shows that just because you are boy and want to play with girl’s toys or dolls it doesn’t mean that the boy will be any less masculine. A lot of the time and even in my own case boys are steered away from like playing with dolls because of the gender codes.
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