A twelve-year old boy and an eleven-year old boy
sit in the corner of their youngest brother’s room to play with bakery toys and
baby dolls. At their ages, boys have endured enough of what the author of “The
‘Two Cultures’ of Childhood” calls “sex segregation” and exposure to the “gendering
of toys” to develop “gender schemas” that help them believe they are playing
with toys that were made for girls. In “The ‘Two Cultures’ of Childhood”, these
concepts of “sex segregation”, “gendering of toys”, and “gender schemas” are
the tools used in our society to perpetuate the different realities that boys
and girls live in based on what they are socialized to play with, and how they
are socialized to play. The tween boys sitting in the corner defy gender norms,
but do not keep the rules of their society far from their minds.
In the photo, both open space and closed space are
used to represent the access they have to the toys they are freely allowed to
play with and the toys they prefer to enjoy in privacy. The door is just closed
enough to signify a secrecy to their toy preferences, but open enough to allow
them access to the gendered world, and the toys societally appropriate for
their gender and age. The door, and doorframe, serve as symbolism for the dull,
shadowy world of strongly encouraged gender conformity that awaits them when
they leave the safety of their little brother’s room. These techniques are used
to portray the gender schemas the boys have developed. They would not be
playing in the corner behind a door if they were not required to develop these
schemas.
Both boys are facing away from the camera and
towards their preferred toy. Their gaze is not on us, the trucks, the fishing
poles, the power drill, or the basketball, all of which symbolize toys they are
encouraged to like. The boys are looking to a world they want to exist in, and
away from the world that tells them they must choose toys based on the gender
they have in common. Their similar shirts, closeness in age, and shared gender
represent the sex segregation they cannot shake, despite their desire to stray
from it. They are two boys playing with girl toys, but they are still isolated
from playing with girls.
Works Cited
Unknown
author. “The ‘Two Cultures’ of Childhood.” file:///C:/Users/rasmi/Downloads/The%20_Two%20Cultures_%20of%20Childhood.pdf.
Unknown
year.
3 comments:
From: Jenny
The items in the foreground of this photo are toys that are toys that are typically gendered as “male”. The toys are a basketball, a drill, construction trucks, and fishing poles. The basketball represents the types of sports boys should be playing and interested in which are rough, contact sports. Although women also play basketball, it is a male dominated sport. The drill and trucks represent the types of careers men tend to have, which require physical labor and put employees in harm’s way. The fishing poles can represent hunter-gatherer times when men were to actively hunt for prey to provide for the village or tribe. All of these representations depict men in the dominant position when it comes to the hierarchy of the genders. Since these objects are in the foreground of the photo, they’re more prominent and signify power. Alternatively, the boys playing with “girl’s toys” are in the background, signifying the act of boys/men caring for babies or children and being soft and gentle as subordinate characteristics.
The boys in the photo are also in the corner of the room which shows that the boys are trapped in a society that will not accept the boys as they are. On the other hand, the view of the camera could signify a parent (also representing society) looking down on the boys, disapprovingly. Since they’re in a corner, they have nowhere to run if the parent were to reprimand them for this “wrongful” behavior. The white walls that enclose the boys in the photo can represent purity and innocence, showing that the boys have yet to be “tainted” by the gender norms of society. Alternatively, the boys sitting in the corner can signify the boys being in “time out”, therefore being punished for playing with “girly toys” and acting outside of gender norms.
From Starla: This image first drew my attention because of the colors. I really like the idea for the photo. Having them sitting in a corner makes me think of being in time out. We as a society want to punish boys for acting the way they want and playing with what they want. I like that they are not looking at the camera, it makes me think that they are trying to hide from the person that is taking the picture, they may feel ashamed. Or even if they do not feel ashamed they may know the treatment that they will receive if people find out what they are doing because it is not socialized as “normal”. Something that this essay doesn’t mention is that boys playing with girls’ toys are even more frowned upon than girls playing with boys’ toys. Why do we have these gender scripts that all children grow up to follow? I like the basketball in the background and they are not paying one bit of attention to any of those toys that are “suppose” to be their toys. The idea of having the door cracked is very creative and I think really makes the picture great. And I also love that they are wearing very similar clothes which gives the person looking at the picture the idea that all children are supposed to be identical and act the same.
From: Marina
I really enjoy the idea of the symbolism that the camera angle was taken from a distance behind a close door in a parent’s point of view. It showed the differential norms of the toy culture world by putting this idea that these particular boys have to play with the toys shown behind them because society has a way of shoving these ideas of toys for just “boys only”. Another thing I noticed about the camera angle was that the boys were turned away from the camera being able to enjoy the comfortable space which is what Raquel talks about when mentioning her children. I find it very interesting that when they’re alone in their youngest brothers room and they don’t feel any pressure to playing with toys there behind them. The background of open space is brought by having the free will of the two boys moving around to play with what society expects boys their age to play with. The closed space gives a clear view of the foreground representing the idea of society wanting boys playing with boy related toys like the basketball, dump trucks, or the fishing poles. I feel like the colors represented in the room shows a lot of vibrancy and innocence at the same time for the two boys. The boys are still showing empathy by playing with dolls, which shows the sweet innocence of taking care of or feeding the dolls. The vibrancy emphasizes their imaginations suggests that willing to play pretend or make believe with each other helps the boys being creative and willing to play in their younger brothers room.
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