Separate Sphere of Toys

From: Halaina

At a young age, children are exposed to several different types of toys that encourage gender roles. In the photo you can see some of the gender roles being enforced and how they differ for the boys and the girls. The boy toys are hard, tough, and have darker colors. These toys are intended to promote athleticism, strength, and use of strategy. When you look at the girls side, the toys have lighter and brighter colors. They also tend to be more soft and fluffy. Girls toys encourage beauty and delicateness. These types of qualities reinforce stereotypes of what is means to be masculine among boys and feminine among girls. In the article “The Problem with Separate Toys for Boys and Girls” the author quotes Susan Linn. She states, “Rigidly gendered toy marketing tells kids who they should be, how they should behave, and what they should be interested in” (Hains). As a result, gender stereotypes become engrained in a child’s attitude and interests as they play.

                  In my photograph, there are two distinct sides. The boys side on the left and the girls side on the right. The two separate sides symbolize the binary view according to gender. The two sides also symbolize the separate sphere ideology. When walking into the toy section of a store, there is a girls section and a boys section. You do not see a section that says “toys for boys and girls.” This has a influence on a child’s understanding of society and the ideals that society holds. This also encourages the separate sphere ideology in the sense that boys and girls are different and they have different roles as people. The intensity of the toys color is used to demonstrate how the effects of toys have a severe impact on a child. The difference in a toys color demonstrates what is a boy toy verses what is a girls toy. For children, this is an indicator of what gender this toy belongs to and if they are permitted to play with the toy or not. This allows the children to segregate themselves from the other gender as well as interact differently from the other sex. Even though toys and other influences impact how children act and view the world, children are not so different. The element of symmetry between the two sides represents how children are alike. Regardless of sex, children are innocent and full of life. Boys and girls play, laugh, and eat like everyone else. The things that make boys and girls so different are the socially constructed norms that they are taught through different agents on socialization.

Sources:

 

Hains, Rebecca. The Problem with Separate Toys for Girls and Boys. 25 February 2015. https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/02/27/the-problem-with-separate-toys-for-girls-and-boys/2uI7Qp0d3oYrTNj3cGkiEM/story.html

Socially Acceptable

From: Kacey

This photo is about socially appropriate ways that show both masculine and feminine way's that can be seen as socially acceptable. With the glasses they have lots of pink in them that show more of the feminine side. Pink is a considered a girly color and associated with girl's. Blue being more used as for boy's. These glasses would be socially acceptable because she is a girl and girls wear pink a lot. From before the baby is born the color's pink and blue are used to describe a boy and girl. She picked out these glasses herself showing self-identity as a girl. The shirt being more masculine is associated with some say superhero and being manly. The shirt represents a character that is very masculine and most boys and men are into this character but, now girls and women are able to be into it as well. Although she is a girl influencing on her preferences comes into play because some of her friends are into this character which is when this becomes socially appropriate for a girl because it’s an item of clothing that just happens to have a masculine and feminine look. This photo shows all of self-identity, influences on children's preferences, attitudes and behaviors that are socially appropriate. She knows she is a girl and likes girl thing's as well as this girl's t-shirt of would be consider a masculine character but, it makes her socially acceptable because her friends both boys and girls are into it as well and she knows she is a girl. These shirts are also sold in the girl’s section in stores. Her attitude is shown here as she is happy she is a girl and with her looking down smiling she knows she is a girl and is wearing which is considered feminine and socially acceptable. This may show more of the 2018 version of a girl but, reflects the gender schema of 1981. The glasses and shirt make her socially acceptable by both girls and boys. She picked out both items and likes them both very much. This photo is socially appropriate because she learned gender schemas from her social environment and knows they are feminine.  

The "Two Cultures of Childhood" mention's that "According to gender schema theory (Bem, 1981), children learn gender schemas from their social environments, but they also willingly adopt and exaggerate distinctions between the sexes. Gender schemas become part of self-identity, influencing children's preferences, attitudes and behavior as they strive to act socially appropriate "masculine" or "feminine" ways. (Martin & Ruble, 2004)" 

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Girl Meets Doll World

From: Alexis

As we learned about in Chapter 5, gendering of toys, activities, and even color (pink vs blue) is presented to children almost as soon as they are born. Boys toys are geared more toward action and girls’ toys are geared more toward domestic roles (Rudman). This kind of gendering of toys subconsciously leads children in the direction of what they will choose as their adulthood careers. Of course, there are outliers in every statistic but there is an overwhelming percentage of men performing labor intensive work and women performing domestic related duties in the workforce. We give our little boys action figures, electric cars, tools, etc. to play with and we give our little girls dolls, ponies, play kitchens, etc. to play with. The physical images the toys give our children also have a large influence in what they strive to look like. When boys see action figures with large muscles and girls see dolls with slim hourglass figures, it becomes a beauty standard they look up to. Giving little boys these kinds of toys teaches them dominance, confidence, and problem-solving skills (Rudman). Giving little girls these kinds of toys teaches them to be nurturing, patient, and care taking skills (Rudman). Even the way we socialize our boys with other boys and our girls with other girls is vastly different. When boys play they are encouraged to go outside and be rough. When girls play they are encouraged to play dolls or dress up. Boys are taught to be aggressive, go getters, and independent from a very young age. Girls are taught to be selfless, kind, submissive, and always “beautiful.”

I chose this photo of my little sister, Sophia, age 6. She is pictured in her room playing with her collection of dolls in front of an oversized Barbie play house. Sophia playing with and taking care of her dolls and play house demonstrates the domestic skills she is learning at a very young age. These skills in the workforce relate to housekeeping, nursing, and caretaking (all predominately women filled roles). I blurred out the background so that the focus of the photo would be on the toys pictured. I also was careful to place Sophia close to center but not completely centered. This shows that women are an important role in our society, we could not survive without the roles they play, yet society does not make them priority and often pushes them to the side making them less significant than men. Lastly, Sophia is covered in dolls and almost blends in with them. I did this on purpose to show that society overwhelmingly throws these things in the direction of our girls and it’s hard for them to escape.

Gender Roles

From: Chris

Masculinity is defined as; possession of qualities traditionally associated with men. “handsome, muscled, and driven, he’s a prime example of masculinity.”

Some synonyms for masculinity include manliness, machismo, ruggedness, and strength. These are words I wrestled with as a teenage male in the early 2000’s. Society told me manliness was many different things but it never seemed to be what I wanted it to be and I often found myself trying to fake it. Manliness was working-out, guns, getting women, cars, sports, and of course drinking! WOOO…I guess? I’ve always loved working-out and sports, competition always seemed to push me and I always enjoyed that however, I never had any real creative outlet, I don’t really think too many males I grew up with had a real creative outlet. If you were into any sort of art you were considered “gay” by your peers and segregated on a social level.

I used myself for my photo project and decided to incorporate my pro-wrestling training into it for more creative potential. Being in the ring signifies constantly wrestling with what society says masculinity is supposed to be. The heart around the eye and the pig tail on one side represent general confusion during those character building years while the camo shorts and American flag bandana stand for the Patriotism we are also told is manly and rugged. There were a few pictures taken for my project, I basically did a series that starts with this picture and ends with a picture of myself on my knees in the middle of the ring with smeared paint on my face, a ripped sign in front of me, with me looking up at the camera and “flipping it off” …it signifies a personal end to confusion and the way I thought it had to be as well as the beginning of something new and living life the way I want.

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Jenny and Barbie

From: Molly

This is my neighbor Jenny.  She’s 17 years old.  While growing up Jenny’s favorite toy was Barbie.  Sometimes Barbie’s boyfriend Ken would fall ill, and Jenny would take care of him. When she got a “Barbie Dream House,” Jenny would spend the day playing clean up or cook food for Ken.  Never once did Jenny play with a Barbie that wasn’t done up with plastic makeup.  If Barbie looked her best for Ken, Ken would be happy, and Barbie would be happy too.  Jenny grew up looking at her dolls thinking they were the most beautiful toys and internalized that, “if I look like this, I’ll be the most beautiful girl and once I’m the most beautiful girl I’ll find my very own Ken!”  So, when Jenny was just 13 years old she would sneak into her mother’s bathroom and cake on whatever makeup she could find.  Then when she was a little older, she would watch YouTube tutorials to master her makeup looks.  The more makeup she put on, the more she hid her face.  She thought that without makeup people wouldn’t see her as beautiful.  So, when Jenny is out and about you’ll never see her not looking like the perfect doll.

The photo used for this assignment relates to the subtopic of “The ‘Two Cultures’ of Childhood” in Unit 5.  Jenny represents that “gender schemas become part of self-identity, influencing children’s preferences, attitudes, and behavior as they strive to act (or in this case, look) in socially appropriate “masculine” or “feminine” ways.”  Playing with toys associated with a certain gender thus influences gendered stereotypes.  “Barbie and her legion of imitators represents feminine ideals and encourages such activities as pretend shopping, grooming, and accessorizing.”  When Jenny was exposed at a young age to the idea that makeup makes you beautiful, she stopped seeing her true natural true beauty as beautiful.  In the photo the natural side of Jenny’s faced is shown in black in white to represent her hiding and subsequently forgetting her identity, which in color is underneath contour, overlined lips, and fake lashes.

STRIP

From: Bryce

This photo was not originally intended to expose gender socialization and/or gender roles. Its intention was to be a post on social media, however it was noticed that the photo actually portrayed society versus girl culture along with girl culture versus girl.  It is a play on the article, The Two Cultures of Childhood, and represents the manipulation mass media has on females through all ages. In the article the author states that “Gender segregation allows the development of different normatives and that each gender’s playing style reinforces these differences”. This explains the walk from being a young girl playing dress up, or with Barbie’s and the emphasis girls toys and playing styles have on beauty, to the journey of growing up and mocking those methods of play into adulthood.

                  The focus of the photo is the girl holding her phone in front of her face to a mirror with the message “STRIP” in capital, bright pink letters across the top. The camera lens on her phone, symbolizes the eye of society (social media), while the phone itself represents pressure on women. Her phones in her hand represents her holding the pressures of the media, culture and societal norms. The lens is covering up her right eye, representing what she feels others (society) see, a sex object.  The message “STRIP” symbolizing sexuality, the less clothing you wear the more appealing you are. The font and color of the message is attention grabbing, in both a literal and figurative sense. The pink lettering representing acceptance, meaning it is okay to reveal and expose yourself, “it’s normal”. While the brightness of letters show the power our culture has and it’s constant pressure on women to be beautiful, sexual….and well, feminine.

                  The other focus is of course, the girl. Standing in a dimly lit room, alone, only exposing her neck, few facial features and her hand. This represents the fight of girl against girl culture, the constant pressure, even in our most private spaces (in this case a fitting room). The dimly lit room and neutral colored clothing symbolizes an emphasis of being dull or unnoticed, hinting that the more glowing you are the more attractive and feminine you are. The girl barely exposing any skin in this photo, standing below the message symbolizes the power struggle between beauty and everything else surrounding. The message of this photo is that our culture places too much power on beauty standards for women, holding to them to expectations they don’t always wish to live up to but still want to be noticed and accepted in other ways within our society.

Society’s Standards of Masculinity and Femininity Norms

From: Anelsa

As we Already know Masculinity and Femininity are gender terms that identifies a man from a woman. In society being masculine for a man is to be strong, tough and unemotional while being feminine for a woman is to be soft, emotional and submissive. However if a male were to have the traits of a female and vice versa automatically society would judge them, in the picture above is a female athlete aspired to become a female bodybuilder. In the eyes of society her bodily appearance & aspirations would be viewed as too masculine/ manly and that she should aspire to become something less masculine and change her physical appearance to be more feminine in other words less muscular and more softer .

From a very tender age a female is thought what she should look like physically, how she should express herself emotionally and what roles she should take on as a woman. According to “The two cultures of childhood”, “segregation both encourages girls and boys to develop separate social worlds or “cultures” characterized by different activities, interaction styles and social rules”. Society has created a very heavy construct of roles for men and women to break through and live freely to express who they truly are as an individual. As a result they have to hide and live in a black white light and space to keep their true personalities and selves suppressed, even though the woman in the picture is displaying magnificent body aesthetics through her muscle tone, structure, strength and health she would still be negatively criticized as being too masculine. I specifically chose this picture of an athletic female because I wanted to switch the gender norms of masculinity  to depict its attributes using the female body. “Gender schemas associates maleness and femaleness with myriad different attributes, behaviors, and objects, defining masculine as tougher and more active and feminine as softer and more passive” (Martin and Ruble, 2004) As society continues to teach what norms are suitable for a male and a female they also consciously and subconsciously box each individual into a negative construct of masculinity and femininity robbing each individual the right to express their true personalities without having to be criticized or judged.

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The Future Fight

From: Amanda

The photo that I choose for this assignment is a picture I took over the summer. I met the two girls who I am going to call “Rini” and “Luna” after who they are dressed as at Otacon, an Anime Convention, last August. I choose this photograph because I felt that it relates to “The Two Cultures of Childhood”  The creative techniques I used for this photo are Color, Foreground, and Symbolism.

Rini and Luna are participating in costume play (better known as cosplay) as characters from Sailor Moon. The pink sailor fuku that Rini is wearing, along with her tiara, and Luna’s pink accents codes this shows as being for girls. While Sailor Moon initially advertised itself for both girls and boys (friendship and magical transformations for the girls, epic fight scenes for the boys) over 25 years later, the franchise has a majority female audience. Additionally, because of its longevity and popularity Sailor Moon is a gateway anime, meaning that it is one of the first anime that western audiences ever learn about making it important to understand the values it teaches young viewers.

Notice that only three people in the picture are in focus. Rini and Luna are in the foreground. These girls are dressing up as characters who are relatable to them in age and who serve as good role models to learn from. The girls pose together, ready to fight against evil as a team just like the senshi that they are emulating rather then pose in a fight against one another like a boy of the same age would probably do (Rudman, 2015). However in the background I left an older cosplayer in focus to show what lies in the future for these girls in terms of anime role models. Her cosplay is much more revealing than the ones that Rini and Luna are wearing. Most female characters wear outfits that are very revealing, and are often sexualized by both their fellow characters and the audience watching.

I took this picture while Rini and Luna were waiting in line with their guardian for one of the panels. As a result, the people around them form a barrier that prevent the two girls from growing to forge their own path. Behind the duo is a offshoot hallway that they could get out through to escape the looming pressures of future role model, a light in the darkness. However  the older cosplayer blocks their path and, unless Rini and Luna are willing to push their way through, keeps them stuck in the same path.

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.

Girls, Girls, Girls!

From: Karsyn

The photo I chose is of my young cousin, she is four and has the biggest(Bossiest) personality I’ve seen in a kid her age. It’s amazing to see how kids shape themselves, my cousin could be getting into her mother’s make-up while wearing a ninja turtle mask and also putting barbie dolls into monster trucks. It’s amazing to see the not so subtle differences between her and other girls I often babysit her and her friend, her friend can want re-enact Disney movies like The Little Mermaid and my cousin just wants to play with nerf toys, dress up as a ninja turtle-captain America-police officer who wears glittery high heels. Though taking a photo of her was challenging most four-year old’s won’t sit still for two minutes but, by using the three fourths framing method I cut off a good bit of the background to show my cousin just sort of “voguing” and even though the picture is a three fourths type, I feel like her presence draws her eyes in the little “power-pose” draws you in even more which is why I love this picture so much because even with Captain America’s muscles on and his abs she can still be beautiful and “girly” while also being powerful and confident.

I focused primarily on “The “Two Cultures” of Childhood,” the fact is for the most part it is true. Little girls play with little girls and boys will be boys with other boys, however I am amazed daily to see how certain children will cross that borderline and seeing little girls being rough and tumbling in the mud and acting under the category of “Boys will be boys” label. To argue with that though we see little girls being accepted into more “manly” roles with open arms that make fathers proud because their little girl is as tough as boys but, the moment a boy tries to go into the more feminine roles he’s suddenly devalued which as a culture I think is something we very much need to work on, if a young boy wants to bake, draw, dance or anything of the sort that is creative we put them down and tell them to man up.

There are still so many problems with gender roles with children but we’re getting better with letting girls do things that make them happy but at the same time we cannot continue to elevate girls while we leave boys to squander in the dust and train them into hypermasculinity because now they don’t only have to be better than other boys but also other girls.

Get This Look!

From: Carrie

For this photo, I chose the subtopics of unrealistic beauty standards for adolescent girls. I wanted to bring attention to how isolating fashion can be for gender nonconforming girls or tomboys to adjust to adolescence and later adulthood.  Magazines for children often celebrate tomboys, but once they become teenagers they are bombarded by media to be as feminine as possible or they're "doing girl" wrong. For myself, one thing that stood out to me more than anything else were the "Get this look" page of magazines, where they show a picture of a celebrity or a popular television character and show how you can look like they do, only I never wanted to look like they do. I felt isolated because I "didn't dress well" and I didn't have any role models for how to look like a grown-up tomboy.

So with this project I wanted this to be a reflection of a young adolescent girl arranging an outfit on her bed, mimicking the fashion magazines but with a more inclusive wardrobe. It shows a mix of men and women's clothes, and underwear made specifically for gender nonconforming women. I included these to drive home the idea that this is something for girls. The characters are from a popular Cartoon Network show called Adventure Time.

I purposefully used the bed and left part of the floor in the frame to indicate that this is not meant to be a professional production, but a girl's attempt to make her identity mesh with her peers. I hope that this picture shows how tomboys struggle in adolescence.

"The 'Two Cultures' of Childhood" explains how gender segregation in childhood effects how children interact with the world around them. It says "over time, the more boys play with boys and girls with girls, the more gender typed the play activities become... This suggests a socialization by peers concerning which activities are appropriate for members of each gender" (Two Cultures 1). I believe this applies beyond just play, however, and includes dress. It creates a complicated mixed message for girls who were encouraged to be active at a young age, but who are expected to conform to play and dress rules that never applied to them before once they reach adolescence.

                  This photo seeks to show what could be a healthy model for children of either gender who don’t want to be encapsulated my gender dress codes. Perhaps we can teach our children that, as they reach the age where appearance becomes more important, that beauty can modeled in many different ways, and with the tools we already have at our disposal.

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.

Breaking Norms

From Andrea


I decided to take a picture of my little cousin Angel who is one year old boy. In this photo we see this little boy playing with a doll house instead of the boy toy. I decided to take this picture of him playing with a “girl toy” because it goes against social norms we have for boys. Ever since we are little we have different expectations based on our gender. Boys are expected to wear certain color that are supposed to be masculine colors like blue, red, green and black. Girls are expected to wear feminine colors like pink,violet and coral. Boy are expected to be tough, rough and more active and girls are seen as nicer, softer and more passive as stated in the article The “two Cultures”of Childhood. When boys pretend play they want to be soldiers, superheroes and truck drivers because that what society has thought them. Girls take the role of a mother, they pretend to cook, clean and take care of a baby. There might be little girls that like to play with a boy toy and people will see it as a good thing but people will never encourage a boy to play with a baby doll or any other “girl toy” because that is not a norm society has set for boys. In the photo angel is playing with the doll house because he has two older sisters that play with that doll house so he does what they do. The photo mainly focuses on him and the doll house . You can see that he is wearing blue which is a masculine color and the doll house is pink and yellow because it's considered a girl toy. In the right side you see a Bat man robot that is blue and black which he is expected to be playing with because it's a boy toy. When taking the picture the camera was looking down because that is how society sees us when we don't follow the norms that are set for our gender. The doll house takes up most of the background because it the most important part of the photo that show a social norm for a boy being broken.

Toy Segregation – Soft vs. Hard

From: Elma 

In our reading of the The Two Cultures of Childhood (Module 5), we learned that segregation both allows and encourages girls and boys to develop separate social worlds or “cultures” characterized by different activities, interaction styles and social roles. (Rudman, Glick 59).

The way I chose to depict the separate social worlds was to use a collage effect photo. The background photo depicts a toy store aisle.  The front photos depict my grandchildren playing.  The front photos were softened at the edges and the children were highlighted to emphasize their interactions with their dolls and with the video game.

After walking through several different toy stores it didn’t take long to see the differences in the aisles between girl and boy toys.  The background photo shows that the aisles dominated in pink had soft and nurturing types of toys while aisles with the hard colors showed toys of competitiveness and action. This store aisle photo depicts the stark differences in toys for boys and girls. In looking through the aisles of the toy stores it was obvious to me that the boy’s aisle had toys that were rougher in material and the toys in the girl’s aisle were softer. 

According to the sociologist Elizabeth Sweet, toy companies began intensifying their use of color-coded marketing and segregation of toys in the 1980’s. (The Atlantic, Katharine Schwab, May 5,2016).  Making the aisles gender-based in stores and online is meant to help customers find what they’re looking for, but according to the campaigner and parent Jess Day of the nonprofit “Let Toys Be Toys”, “it’s driven by a massive assumption about what a child might want.” (The Atlantic, 2016).  

The two front photos I have chosen show the differences in toy activity for boys and girls. In the photo of my two granddaughters they are having lunch with their dolls, and are in their glory while visiting American Girl Doll store in New York City. This brings to mind the scene where many young girls will grow up to take their children to lunch with other mothers and their children.  It definitely indicates a nurturing female gender activity. You can see in the photo that the girls are considerate of their dolls and everyone is enjoying their lunch. The photo of my grandson captures his intent on making every shot in the video game he is playing. He is acting in a very competitive manner and wants to win the game. He is paying attention to only the game and nothing else. 

In Growing Up Apart, Coming Together (Chapter 2 The Two Cultures of Childhood), Eleanor E. Maccoby (39), discusses how boys will establish dominance relations which often takes place in competition.  Whereas, girl’s themes play are less solitary, and more likely to involve cooperative role-taking.  Maccoby (41) indicates that these roles frequently invoke domestic or school themes. Girls often use dolls as props for their domestic play, and this is often seen as female nurturance. 

According to gender schemas and how they become part of self-identity with preferences, attitudes and behavior we can see through the photos the differences in gender schemas in both the girls and boy.  Strength and power with boys and warmth and nurturance with girls.

The children’s actions and the toy store aisle in my photo represent how child’s play captures the idea of separate social worlds for girls and boys and reinforces our reading on the “Two Cultures of Childhood”.

Works Cited

Rudman, Laurie A., and Peter Glick. _The Social Psychology of Gender: How Power and Intimacy Shape Gender Relations_, The Guilford Press, 2015, pp. 59–63. 

Katharine Schwab _ The Atlantic Daily, (Will Toys Ever Go Beyond Blue and Pink), May 5, 2016

Eleanor E. Maccoby_ The Two Sexes_ Growing Up Apart, Coming Together, _ Harvard University Press, 1998, pp. 32-56

Gender Roles

From: -Mo

 I chose to base my photo surrounding my 5-year-old son Karson Alexander Mitchell. Karson spends the most time with me his 3-year-old sister Jade, Makenzie, Montana and my mom on the weekend. My sisters Makenzie and Montana are both younger than me and live with my mother. We all are unmarried except for my sister Madison who is a Lesbian and has a girlfriend for over 4 years. At an early age he was taught about sex and gender roles for people and understood that its ok for boys and girls to do the same things, look the same and try new things. Karson is adventurous, knowing that he can try anything if he wanted too. Just like toddler X wasn’t uncomfortable with doing all that he wanted to because there is nothing abnormal with trying everything. I think my son grasped that Idea very early on.
   In this photo he is wearing my vest and a birthday crown that I bought for him 2 years ago, and  this picture was taken in the living room of our apartment that is all designed with artwork by Karson over the past few years. The day prior Karson tried this vest on right before I wore it for the day and I thought he about how often he does try my things on that are appealing to him. Karson has always expressed things to me through his feelings by having open discussions about things going on around us. Feelings isn't something that is seen as masculine as a male, but our interactions it helps to teach my son that way of expression.That day we discussed about how beautiful heart is and how he can look at things as a child with good intentions to keep discovering more if interested, specifically what art projects should we do next. As we were talking about this subject, I was moving around him trying to find an angle to really focus on him. While sitting on the floor and checking the previous pictures, I realize the majority of our apartment has his artwork on the walls I just needed to show more of the colorful background he created. Karson is extremely passionate about his work, know that there are many ways to expressing his creativity shows his confidence in all his art.I wanted to add that the cardboard paper is something recycled that we save when we come across any types of cardboards, even Dr. Rellaihan mentioned that the best gift to give a child would be a cardboard box.  The opportunity for expanding his mind happens when he can be freely creative. I left Karson in black and white and some of the background because that how some people view things, one way or the other. I choose to open the color for his old artwork because I know he can see with colorful eyes, perceiving the world of his own and learning life in different colored lights Karson’s kind heart shows his innocence of being just a kid without the pressure of male or female goals and that so early choose to be so confident in himself about his perception on gender roles.

Beauty Standards in American’s teens

From: Sarah

Beauty standards exists in America. To be attractive you have to wear certain cloths, make up, have your hair done, be a certain weight, eat certain foods, and you must always look your best, or what the world has deemed “the best”. Many of these standards are based from magazines, models, and of course the rich and famous. Feminine beauty is described as this; “the socially constructed notion that physical attractiveness is one of women’s most important assets and something all women should strive to achieve and maintain.” (Huffington Post) Breaking that statement apart; the world is saying you must always look attractive, you must always be made up, you must always be dressed a certain way, you have to have a body like Beyoncé and a booty like Kim Kardashian, and that it’s important for a woman to do so and it’s something that all women should strive for. This is how the beauty standard was born. With these standards it becomes hard for women to fit in, to fill this specific mold that was created.

Lauren’s photo essay was a great example of this. Her essay showed what women were forced to wear to look attractive. One example was those small shoes on her big feet, along with seeing scratches on the girl’s feet, making a statement that being pretty hurts. One photograph is even of a younger girl who says, “There is so much peer pressure”, relating to the fact that everyone has to look the same, a standard, instead of being comfortable with their actual selves. She showed images of women just being themselves too, going against these beauty standards, in hopes of one day breaking these standards. Her photo essay is a great reflection of the standards that exists in the world today and how they are affecting the younger women.

 Disney movies play a huge role to in creating these standards and encouraging them on younger kids. They have these princesses; that are innocent, have tiny waist, with their bust bulging out, half dressed in skimpy clothing and even have them using their beauty to get what they want in some films. This right here is creating a model for younger kids, showing them that if you dress like this, act like this towards a man, you can get whatever you want or need from a man. It also shows younger kids that you should be this skinny, wear make up to make yourself pretty, in order to be liked and find your prince, which sets a beauty standard for all to follow. This creates a negative standard on the young, because instead of them growing up knowing that they can be themselves, they now have these beauty standards pushed upon them.

Schools specifically have beauty standards. If you aren’t wearing this brand, this make up, your shirt a certain way, you aren’t attractive and no one will bat an eye your way. This mold, idea, actually tears young women apart, because they want to dress a certain way that they are comfortable with, but in result will be made fun of.

In this photograph, the female standing in front of the mirror is confronted with a conflict every time she wants to go out or must get dressed for school.  Her reflection shows these standards that the world has come to live by, while her self-image shows what she is most comfortable in, going against the standards. The angle of this photo allows the viewer to see the self-conflict, the beauty standard being pushed upon her verses what she wants to wear and how she is comfortable in her own skin mold, not a mold placed upon her.  Her emotion is strong with how she feels about these standards, black and white explains her sadness, hate that she cannot be herself when she steps out in public, and that there’s the standards for how she needs to look. The color represents the real world, how she’s supposed to dress and supposed to feel, happy and energetic, not herself, following these standards. Beauty standards like these exist in our everyday life because we let media influence us, what other people think influence us. If we stepped back from it all one day and ignored these standards, they would no longer exist.

What's wrong with the photo?

 From: Michelle

Most people would say they are in the wrong room. Where does it show that the kids switched rooms? It's not directly labeled with whose room it is. This is 9-year-old Alison and 7-year-old Alex. Our society would assume which room belongs to who because of the socially constructed "cultures of gender" that is usually exaggerated in childhood. Alison belongs in the room with pink walls while Alex belongs in the room with blue, but in the photo, they appear to be in the wrong rooms, it just doesn’t look right in people's eyes. If it was informed that these kids are in their own rooms then this photo would draw more negative attention rather than positive solely because society has constructed set expectations and roles in a way, it creates rules to how a girl and a boy should act. Looking at the photo of Alex in a pretty-pink room with a huge doll house hugging a teddy bear, he will most likely be instantly judged over a photo without even knowing who he is. Femininity in boys have always been extremely looked down on as girls who may be more masculine are usually acceptable to an extent. The fact is, the audience who may be viewing this photo is correct, the two kids are in the wrong rooms, but no one would think Alison’s favorite color is blue (Surprise, her favorite color is blue). Society pressures boys to present themselves in a certain way which is usually masculine, dominant, or more aggressive rather than passive. Society “punishes” the boys for showing feminine characteristics, this starts at childhood and this causes pressure for the males that femininity is a negative thing which is a completely unhealthy message to be giving to the children. This photo is in fact 100 percent staged. Interestingly enough, Alison enjoyed acting on the role as a boy while the boy did not want to hold the doll when he was asked to for the photo, instead he insisted he would hold the teddy bear rather than the doll and reacted by abusing the doll and throwing it around. We agreed to let him hold the bear for the photo, when positioning for the photo Alison looks up comfortably and plays with the “boy” toys while Alex stands far back of the room tense and obviously looking uncomfortable. I asked, “Alex, you are kind of far for the camera” He responds, “I don’t want to be seen holding a doll.”

Forced to be Gendered

From: Ellie

            My photo is a take on the story of the child X. In the story, X is a child who was raised to have no gender. This is seen as a problem for everyone except the person it affects, X. The parents, the school board, and the principal are all trying to conform X into one of the two “normal” genders.

“They demanded immediate action. The Joneses, they said, should be forced to tell whether X was a boy or a girl. And then X should be forced to behave like whichever it was. If the Joneses refused to tell, the Parents' Association said, then X must take an Xaminiation. The school Psychiatrist must Xamine it physically and mentally and issue a full report. If X's test showed it was a boy, it would have to obey all the boys' rules. If it proved to be a girl, X would have to obey all the girls' rules, and if X turned out to be some kind of mixed up misfit, then X should be Xpelled from the school. Immediately!”

This quote from the story is about how one of the families from school were upset that X didn’t have a gender. This is very common with a lot of gender queer people. People who have no say over a person’s gender try and place the person in a box. In my picture, I tried to capture this by having the background be one side “girl” toys and the other “boy” toys. The picture also shows my partner, who is gender queer, gagged and with a gun to their head. The reason I gagged them was to symbolize the fact that society is holding a metaphorical gun to gender queer people’s heads are not letting the actual person speak about how they feel about their gender. They just dismiss them. The gun was there to put a sense of no choice and forcefulness. It is shown to symbolize society forcing people into either female or male. The photo of my partner, Mel, is in black and white because people who are forced into one of these categories are often times depressed and feel like they aren’t actually themselves. Mel told me that before they started identifying as gender queer they felt like they were just in a shell of a human being. Overall, I feel like this photo has a very clear message about how society perceives non-cis people. It sends a message that says society wants you to be in one of these categories, or we don’t need you.

Works Cited

Gould, Lois. “X: A Fabulous Child's Story.” Ms., July 1972.

Toy Stereotypes

From: Sammi

For this assignment, I chose the topic “The Two Cultures of Childhood” and in more specific, toy and activity preferences. This picture represents the portrayal and expectations of gender norms and schemas we have learned in this reading. I used space and patterns as my creative elements. As stated in the readings introduction, “gender schemas associate maleness and femaleness with myriad different attributes, behaviors, and objects, defining “masculine” as rougher, tougher, and more active” (Rudman et al., 60). The dinosaur toy my four-year-old nephew is playing with is an accurate portrayal of these attributes. The sharp teeth and terrifying face of the dinosaur possesses a rough and aggressive demeanor, which in society is considered a normal toy for his gender. The reading states, “these are toys in which the play theme is both active and tough; aggression is a strong theme of boys’ play” (Rudman et al., 61). In the background, there are toys everywhere. The open space in this picture is limited and cluttered, I set it up this way to show the active play style of boys. I cropped the original picture to make the height of the dinosaur noticeable. This was done to display the size of the toy in comparison to my nephew and to represent the toys masculinity. With the use of patterns, the toys on the ground are also a part of this gendered theme and expectation; we have a jeep and a comic book themed lunch box in sight surrounded by other toys. My nephew is also wearing a Spider Man shirt. "The Two Cultures of Childhood" discusses that superheroes represent the toughest male fantasy figures (Rudman et al., 61). This pattern is confirming the readings description of stereotypes and gender norms of boys play. Overall, this picture of my nephew accurately displays “The Two Cultures of Childhood” and gender norms for young boys. My nephew is playing with a rough and tough dinosaur with the expectation from society that he will be a rough and tough man. I hope my nephews toy choice is based on enjoyment, not expectation. His adorable and cheerful smile at this monstrous dinosaur gives me hope that he will decide whichever path or role he chooses in 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.

Their Eyes Were Watching Misogyny

From: P

Si (left) and Won (right) are some of my favorite kids to babysit. Won,  Si’s older brother, loves everything about football and is fairly progressive in his views regarding what men and women can do. Si is five, loves princesses and purple, and isn’t able to verbalize her views on gender yet. On the day this photo was taken we decided to watch one of my favorite childhood movies: ANTZ. Adulthood paired with a few weeks of the Introduction to Women’s Studies course at AACC ruined my love for this movie, but it was great inspiration for this photo. Alison Bechdel created a comic strip in which a woman described three rules she lives by when choosing a movie to see. Essentially, the movie must have two significant female characters who talk to each other about something other than the men in the movie; ANTZ totally failed this test (Bechdel 1). This photo represents the gender inequalities within children’s media as well as the effects those inequalities had on Si and Won.

An inequality within the film that is obvious, but often overlooked is it’s exclusion of women. It was built on what Katha Pollitt calls the “Smurfette Principle.” There are thousands of men within the movie, but only three women. And, of course, the women existed as the love interests of the men in the movie. Additionally, two of the women were simply named “Queen” or “Princess” while the men were given strong titles such as “General” or “Cutter.” The lack of individuality within women’s names, body types, and roles in children’s media says “boys are the norm, girls the variation; boys are central, girl peripheral” (Pollitt 1). I decided to blur Si’s image because of this principle. As she continues to be conditioned as a background character in life and sees these unrealistic feminine characters in movies, stores, and restaurants, her sense of individuality may disappear. Instead of being the sassy pediatrician she desires to become, society may force her into being a woman who focuses on being feminine enough so that a prince will sweep her off her feet.

            Even though certain effects of gendering may show up in the future, others manifested quickly. It was not long after viewing the dance club scene that Si and Won decided they wanted to dance as well. Before I knew it, Won was spinning Si in circles. He was obviously leading the dance, and Si seemed to enjoy it. From the outside looking in, it appears that I captured a fun moment, but Si told me she didn’t like to be spun around by her brother. In fact, she liked to spin herself. This inspired the low clarity and slanted perspective of the photo. Due to the way in which they are socially conditioned, “boys tend to act more assertively than girls do” (Rudman et al. 62). This conditioning in boys is matched with the conditioning of girls to believe that femininity means being gentle. I have learned that this type of gendering is not always wanted by the child or the adult they grow into. Si didn’t like being spun around, but she didn’t vocalize her discomfort. Won thought he was supposed to spin Si around, but once he saw how much fun spinning yourself could be, he decided to spin himself as well. Sometimes gender roles turn the world on its side instead of keeping order and allowing society to run smoothly. These roles create a pretty picture, but things aren’t always as they appear to be.

            These pretty pictures have been painted for ages. In order to illuminate the timelessness of gender roles, I made the photo black and white. Unwanted gender roles have been causing issues within American households since before we had color television. Betty Friedan discussed “The Problem That Has No Name” in her book The Feminine Mystique. Stay-at-home mothers in the 1960s were feeling “a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction” because everything they did was for their husbands and children: cooking, cleaning, attending PTA meetings, washing walls, and more(Friedan 15). Even the advertisements within the media at that time were shoving the separate sphere agenda down people’s throats. From the time we are born, girls are taught to be caretakers while boys are taught to just be tough individuals. Boys are still usually dressed in blue, and girls in pink, but I see that parents are becoming more progressive in the activities they allow their children to participate in.

             

Bibliography

Bechdel, Alison. “The Rule.” Dykestowatchoutforcom RSS, dykestowatchoutfor.com/the-rule.

Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique: with a New Introduction and Epilogue by the Author. Dell, 1974.

Pollitt, Katha. “Hers; The Smurfette Principle.” The New York Times, 7 Apr. 1991.

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.