Two Sides of the Same Coin

From: Essie

This photo speaks to the two cultures of gender by showing the two extremes of the spectrum using two siblings. In the photo I represent the beauty standard held upon girls quite early in life by including the measuring tape around the girl figure’s waist, the makeup brush in her hand, and the other makeup brush, blush compact, and makeup palette around her. She is also wearing tight clothing, with a very short shirt in the ever so stereotypical pink color that girls are so often attributed with. As for the boy figure, he is surrounded by things representing the heavy insistence of violence in boy culture. He has a toy gun, trucks, a toy rocket building kit, and he is even holding a GameBoy console. His clothes differ drastically from the girl figure’s, as he is wearing shorts, a dark colored t-shirt, and a boy scout uniform shirt. Another thing to notice about the figures is how much space each of them is taking up. For example, the boy figure is sitting in a way that allows him to take up a lot more space, so much so that he is encroaching on the girl’s half of the photo. Also, it seems that all his toys and gadgets cannot even fit fully in frame, which can be related to the stereotype that boys are messy, or unorganized. Whereas for the girl figure, she is sitting “smaller”, with her arms closer to her sides, her legs close together, and her things are more neatly placed around her and in frame, showing the stereotypical gentleness and cleanliness. I chose to angle the photo this way and crop the faces out to put more focus on the stark differences of their other features and what they have around them, instead of drawing more attention to their faces. 

In The “Two Cultures” of Childhood, it states “Gender schemas associate maleness and femaleness with myriad different attributes, behaviors, and objects, defining “masculine” as rougher, tougher, and more active and feminine as nicer, softer, and more passive.” (Two Cultures) I think this is represented through this photo because of the contrast between the two figures and the objects surrounding them. I think the qualities that represent this quote are the differences in body language and space taken up, the drastic difference between the softness and violent nature of the toys and objects, and the figures' clothing. I think these all represent gender socialization in children because these figures are clearly on the older end of childhood, but the items used in the photo surrounding them were objects from their own bedrooms. They were raised with harsh gender norms and stuck to them as they went through childhood, and eventually their teenage years. Although these differences may not be as drastic and distinctly recognizable in everyday life because of the two cultures strictly enforced on children, they will almost always be strongly present in clothing, preferences, and behavior throughout life. 

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.