From: Frances
When you walk in the toy section of a store you can tell the difference between which isle is for the girls and which isle is for the boys. The girl section is always bright pink filled with toys like dolls and beauty kits where the boy section is always blue filled with toys like cars, action figures, and guns. This influences children to develop gender schemas which is associated with different attributes that define being masculine as strong, rough, and tough whereas being feminine is nice, sweet, and soft. My topic is based on “Toy and Activity Preferences” from the article “The ‘Two Cultures’ of Childhood”.
Girls and boys develop separate social worlds or cultures because of how differently they are taught. In this society there is gender segregation which encourages boys and girls to learn different social norms and interaction styles. A big part that comes into play with this is their play style from the toys that they are given. In my photo you can see baby dolls dressed in pink which represent feminine ideals. This teaches girls family roles when they pretend to play the role of a mother and the baby doll being their baby promoting “warmth and nurturance with women.” Next to the baby dolls you can see blue and red cars, monster trucks and helicopters which represent more action. This teaches boys the being tough role, playing more rough promoting “strength and power with men.” These themes carry through to gender stereotypes as well. Color is one of the main characteristics that stand out when looking at this picture. Certain colors and shades can create an effect on something or a certain object which contributes to how we view it. When you look at this picture, you can automatically tell which side is for the boys and which side is for the girls just based on the colors. In our society, bright colors, mainly pink are associated with girls while darker colors, mainly blue are associated with boys and if you were to wear or like the other gender's color then you would be considered as unusual because you are not following the gender norms. This effects children’s behavior because it teaches them to like certain things and avoid certain things based on their sex.
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:
From: Avianna
When I was younger my brother and I would be at target to get toys and run right to our different sections. We would only play with our toys. I like how you described how differently they are taught and their roles they learn from these toys. In your picture you can definitely tell there are 2 different sections based on the colors there are.
From: Madelin
In this photo, one thing that stood out to me was the use of space—almost the entirety of the photo is taken up by the toys, leaving little to no empty space. I believe this may represent how inescapable the two cultures of childhood are: as a child learns about gender schemas, they will inevitably adopt one of these cultures, male or female, which will stick with them throughout the rest of their childhood, influencing how they play and what they play with. Also, while not done solely for the sake of this photo, I still believe that the lines within this image are noteworthy, specifically the lines that the toy shelves make. These lines (the toy shelves) are not connected, ongoing lines—they clearly disconnect in between the “boy’s side” and the “girl’s side”. This disconnect may be used to emphasize that the two cultures of childhood are very distinct and separate from one another; as a child learns about gender schemas, they will be attracted to only one side of these shelves, not both. A girl will prefer the right side, consisting of the pink and smooth baby dolls that she knows is meant for her, while a boy will prefer the left side, consisting of the hard action toys that he knows is meant for him.
Post a Comment