From: Charles
The photograph titled, Toys will be Toys, attempts to
illustrate the current state of discourse over the differences and similarities
in the way that young girls and boys learn gender scripts. While none would
suggest that boys and girls learn identical gender scripts, the messages sent
to young people share notable similarities as well as differences.
The grouping by gender of the toys in the photograph divides
these very common toys into their differing gender categories. On one side of
the vertical dividing line are a tea set and a tiara. On the opposite side of
the dividing line a T-Rex, a Tonka truck and a toy gun are grouped. These
groupings are obviously gender coded, but the scripts they teach are more
subtle. The separation of toys by gender encourages children to pursue a life
that includes the themes associated with these toys, while the opposite
messaging is extremely difficult to discern. The gender coding of toys teaches
exclusion from these themes for the opposing genders (Rudman). This exclusion
is not overt but has a grand impact on the learners of early childhood gender
scripts.
One way in which gender scripts are learned similarly is in
the colors assigned to each sex. All children learn at a very early age that
blue is for boys and pink is for girls. These colors are used to show the
gender separation within the toys. The tiara and tea set on the pink background
illustrates the intended sex of the recipient, while the six-shooter, bulldozer
and dinosaur against the blue background indicate that these are toys for boys.
This is one of the most common gender scripts presented to children. Though
both sets of toys equally require the child to use imagination and creativity
to play with them, the resultant play is very stratifying. The boy is forced to
imagine building and construction or adventure and danger. Despite Disney’s
best efforts to change the princess narrative, the tiara and tea set teach
little girls that pretty, pampered princesses are ideally suited for domestic
matters. It is notable that as men and women begin to take up more evenly
balanced roles in society greater emphasis is being placed on the importance of
balancing the gender scripts taught to children.
Finally, the background colors of black and white represent
the societal attitude towards the gender typing of toys. Above the toys for
boys on the blue side of the dividing line is a black background to show society’s
derision toward toys designed for boys. The white background above the pink
side of the dividing line displaying the toys for girls indicates society’s
lack of displeasure with these toys. While much has been made about the need to
reform the gender scripts taught to boys, the gender scripts long taught to
girls go largely unchanged. If not for the supplementation to include more
options for women, the gender scripts for girls are nearly unchanged. And
whether intentional or not, the societal approval and disproval of little boys
and girls is yet another script that is getting through to our children loud
and clear.
Works Cited
Rudman, Laurie A., et.al. "The Two Cultures of Childhood."
The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender
Relations. The Guilford Press, 2015. 59-63.
2 comments:
This photo is an excellent example of the article called, “The Two Cultures of Childhood.” In your photograph, I liked how you have the blue and pink. In your essay, I liked how you stated, “All children learn at a very early age that blue is for boys and pink is for girls. These colors are used to show the gender separation within the toys.” On the blue side, I see the boys’ toys. On the pink side I see the girls’ toys. On the blue side, the toys’ look rough and tough. The plastic gun, bulldozer, and the T-Rex symbolizes destruction or violence. On the pink side, the toys looked elegant and glamorous. The tiara and tea sets symbolizes soft and beautifulness. Also, in your essay, I liked how you stated, “The background colors of black and white represent the societal attitude towards the gender typing of toys.” I agree with this statement that you wrote in your essay. When I saw the background colors of black and white, I immediately thought that the dark colors, such as black, represents a boy and the bright colors, such as white, represents a girl. The dark colors, such as black, seems more masculine, tough, and depressing. The bright colors, such as white, seems more feminine, bright, and happiness. After looking at the photo, I understand that boys as well as girls are in their social norms. When girls play with girls toys, such as a tea set or a tiara, girls are gentle and nice with their toys. When boys play with boys’ toys, such as a plastic gun or a bulldozer, boys like to play rough.
From: Lexi
I think Charles photo really expresses a lot. I like how he separated the “girl” and “boy” toys. In todays world and back then as well, we think of girl toys as baby dolls, barbies, and play makeup sets. For boy toys we think of matchbox cars, marvel characters, and boxing gear. I like how he put the pink with the girl toys and blue for the boy toys because that brings out the photo as well. Also, with the colors in the background, he put white with the girl toys because white is known to be innocent, where as black with the boy toys because black is known to be a bad ass color and represent big and bad and that’s what boys are known to be because as society today. When the girls play with the tiara and teacup set, they would be known to be gentle and easy with their toys, where as for a boy playing with their gun and dinosaur, they would most likely be very rough with each other. Boys were always known to be rougher and girls are gentler and calmer. Like Charles said, the background would be known to represent the attitude with the girls and boys. Today we also separate books by gender as well. Such as, the “little mermaid” or “Cinderella” stories would be for a girl where as “Batman” and “monster” stories would be known as books for boys. Most people think that a color shouldn’t determine the gender of a person.
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