From: Erin
The subtopic I chose to discuss is the ways in which gender scripts are encouraged in children, specifically in toys and even items of clothing. In the beginning of Module 5, we read a part of an excerpt titled “The Two Cultures of Childhood” written by Laurie Rudman, she highlights key parts of childhood in which society distinctly separates “boys” and “girls” toys. In the “Toy and Activity Preferences” section of the article Rudman talks about a study in which “Researchers transformed a “My Little Pony” by shaving the mane (soft girlish feature), painting it black (a tough color), and adding spiky teeth (an aggressive demeanor)” (Rudman, 60).This part of the reading allowed me to understand that there is such an expectation for young boys and girls to like toys and activities specifically scripted to their genders. Even if they are terribly similar in attributes Children still understand the codes scripted to them. Another statement by Rudman was that miniaturized human figures allow all children to engage in fantasy role play. With, children very much do know the difference between a doll and an action figure, and these children would not play with the opposite sexes toys as their physical appearances are scripted to be “designed” for a certain type of child to engage with.
In the left half of this picture, we see the egg breaking and collecting toys that is popular in the toy market. It is very noticeable to show which egg is scripted to be for a boy and which is scripted to be for a girl. We can see how the egg on the left side is rough around the edges and the dinosaur is showing his scary teeth to show aggression and appeal to young boys. While as you can see with the egg scripted to be for a young girl, it is shiny, smooth, pink, and even the animals you can see on the label are perceived as extremely cute and cuddly. On the right side of the picture, we can see again the similarity between the boots as both being rainboots and can be worn by children. The script of genders is very visible here as we see the spikes around the handles of the boots and the dinosaurs which are an interest to young boys rather than young girls. And the boots on the right side are shown having hearts as the handles and the pattern of hearts running down the boots with pink and purple colors shows a very feminine script.
I used creative techniques in the photograph to further show the scripts of genders in children. As you can see the “feminine toys” are seen a little more blurry than the “masculine toys” to show how men and masculinity are at the forefront of this society and how femininity is pushed back to side and not seen as visible to others, the creative technique was used by the camera angle and allowing the focus to be seen on the young boys toy. I also used the creative technique of taking up space. It is seen in the left half of the picture that the egg on the left, scripted for boys, is taking up a lot of space in the picture.
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.
1 comment:
From: Melissa
Hello Erin, I like how the two photos are standing side by side next together are about the two surprised eggs and the other one is about boots. I believe that the boots are an excellent example of the two cultures of childhood because it is of the spiky handles of the boys boots and the cute girly heart handles from the girl boots. The two surprise eggs are cool looking too because the one fit the boy has a rough texture and a dinosaur head on the packaging with a bone sticking out and one of them is for girls. I like how the girl boots are pastel in color and the boy boots are using dark colors like black and different shades of green for the dinosaurs.
The surprise egg for girls is bright hot pink and has a purple unicorn horn on the packaging is a creature with fairy wings with a unicorn horn with big blue eyes. I believe that the big sparkly eyes attracts girls because it is shiny and cute. On the other hand the dinosaur egg attracts boys because of the fierce scary image of a though dinosaur and red is also a power color. And dinosaurs represents big, tough, loud and mean looking personality that are rough and aggressive character trait types. The girl toys are more soft and gentle looking. And pink and light purple are more feminine then the dark colors of the boy toys and boots. In conclusion, little girls would prefer cute soft and colorful toys and little boys would probably prefer dark colors, tough looking animals and action figures and toys are messy like slime and girls like toys that are not too messy.
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