(I apologize for this being an hour or so late)
In “Becoming a Gendered Body:
Practices of Preschool”, Karin Martin describes the importance of gender
performance and doing gender. She argues that school, particularly preschool,
is critical in producing gender differences. While it is crazy to think that we
are trained to perform gender at such a young age, looking back at my preschool
years, I realize how true it is. During my preschool years, my mother dressed
me for school in frilly dresses that always matched my leggings everyday.
Birthday parties were also a big hit in my preschool years. Whenever my friend
had a birthday party, I wore a fancy dress with tights and couldn’t leave the
house without a big bow in my hair. I don’t remember ever fighting my mom to
wear jeans and sweatshirt (typical “boy” apparel), however I was an only child.
While Martin concentrates on the school environment when talking about
constructing gender, I believe that life at home is also significant. Whether a
child lives in a single parent home or not can affect if performing gender
correctly is a fundamental element of life at home. Additionally, having
siblings, having a brother, will also affect the way in which a younger male or
female is affected by gender. In addition to the composition of who lives at
home, the influence of media should also be noted as an extremely significant
construction of gender.
During my childhood years, I
remember sitting in front of the TV, pen and paper in hand, creating a
Christmas list for Santa while watching Full House. This was the only time of
the year when I loved watching commercials. There is no doubt in my mind that
nearly everything on that list was “girly”- Barbie dolls, American Girl Dolls,
make your own jewelry kit, Polly Pocket. Huffington Post once published a
slideshow of inappropriate gifts for girls. On the slideshow (link below) was a
cleaning trolley, a breast -feeding doll, and a pole-dancing dolly, among other
inappropriate toys. While all of these toys are inappropriate in innumerable
ways, one way is that it is constructing gender at such a young age. It’s
sending the message to young girls that they must learn how to clean up after
others; their sole job in life is being a mother, and it’s okay to seductively
dance for an audience. Toys for boys at this age have a tendency to incorporate
violence, fighting, or aggression. It’s either a type of weapon, racecar, or
robust action figure. Overall, in the daily life of a preschool aged child,
people and materials that force them to conform to predetermined gender roles
surround them.
What I think would be an
interesting element to add to Martin’s study is measuring the difference
between a private and public school. Many private schools require children to
dress in uniform – girls in dresses; guys in pants. Schedules at private
schools are also much stricter than those at public schools. I believe that the
difference would be most apparent in how the students are called to look the
same and do the same things at a private school. Martin’s study incorporates
how the environment of the school places gender performance on children.
However, it is important to recognize it is also the element of the teachers
themselves, parents, and the mass media. My question evolves to ask: what do
you believe to the most influential factor in childhood year that affects how
you perform gender today or if you don’t believe that childhood experiences
correlate with gender performance at all.
Link to
Inappropriate Gifts for Girls: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/02/worst-toys-for-girls_n_701063.html?ref=stupid-products#s134914&title=Little_Lewd_Riding
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ReplyDeleteBlair West
ReplyDeleteI was very intrigued by the link you provided for the worst toys for girls. Because as college students we are rather separated from the experience and culture of childhood, the images of those toys--which were by and large concerned with cleaning, cooking, and grooming--took me back to my early school years. Growing up with a little sister, my dad was determined to raise us as strong and athletic little girls. For Christmas, he would give us what we called 'boy presents,' which included science projects or trains, trucks, and play gadgets. We always complained about 'boy presents,' and it's quite telling that even as little girls we were already well-versed in the differences between boys and girls and their behaviors and pastimes. One of the toys on the list you provided was called 'Just for Girls Cleaning Trolley.' This toy sends the direct and succinct message that girls serve the purpose of cleaning up after men; boys should not concern themselves with chores. These insights are crucial to Martin's article.
Jennifer’s link to the inappropriate gifts for girls is great, because it puts the preschool article in context. While the differences in the treatment between boys and girls in preschool is marked, it pails in comparison to the boundaries between the genders in popular culture, the toys in the slideshow exemplify societies expectations for girls vs. boys. In comparison, the behaviour of preschool teachers in terms of enforcing gender roles seems timid to the blatant marketing tactics of children’s toys. When I have been shopping for the three year old that I babysit for it is incredibly challenging to find an appropriate Barbie. In the sea of short skirt nurses and slutty teachers there was one fully clothed Barbie who happened to be a computer engineer. I find it curious that I was so disturbed by the subtleties in the “hidden” preschool curriculum, and yet I fail to notice the heinous advertising all around me. But as we talked about in class the most dangerous gender inequalities are the ones that we fail to notice.
DeleteIn response to Jennifer’s question of which is most influential parents, media, or teachers in the performance of gender. Ultimately I think that the home life is the most influential factor. As we have discussed in class a child is gendered from the moment they are born. This being true a child has already begun the gendering process prior to entering school and being influenced by teachers. If a child attends the school full time they still spend a majority of their time at home. As a child I was a tomboy I did not like dresses, played sports and had predominately male friends. This was partly due to the fact that I did not want to be like my older sister. I stubbornly rejected everything she did and liked, this lead to my tomboy nature. I also find it interesting that my younger sister was even more of a tomboy than I was and completely rejected every aspect of a girly lifestyle. This makes me question if our gender was impacted by each other. By each of us striving for our own independence we toyed with gender norms and challenged the system. This leads me to think that it is the home life, which significantly impacts a child’s “gender performance”. This also makes me question how is the role of a stay at home father is changing the process of gendering society.
ReplyDeleteJosephine Bingler
DeleteI couldn't agree more that home life is the most influential factor. Looking back at my childhood, it upsets me to realize that my mother sent me to school in a dress and tights almost everyday. I never objected the clothing I wore because all the girls around me were wearing the same, it seemed normal, and teachers would often compliment me on my "pretty" dresses. The way parents dress their children is a huge determining factor of which gender the child will assume. The way I was dressed restricted me from playing tag with the boys and it also shaped the way I carried myself throughout the day. I couldn't sit with my legs uncrossed if I had a dress on because it would be inappropriate and "un-lady like" but boys did not have to worry about this. I think the question Carlisle raises concerning the role of stay at home fathers is very interesting. I too wonder what it would be like if my father had been the one to dress me in the morning. Would I be ostracized by the other girls and boys because I wasn't fitting into the gender norm?
I also agree, to some extent, that home life is what most dramatically impacts how someone forms their gender identity. Growing up with a younger brother, I often became interested in what might be considered more "boyish" things. For example, I loved Pokemon, hot wheels, and often watched Star Wars movies with my Dad and brother. However, I think that often times there is much more that goes into gendering a child than just their home life. My parents tried to raise both my brother and I in a "gender neutral" manner. They didn't find out if either of us were going to be a boy or girl before we were born. They didn't care that my brother dressed up in my girly dress-up clothes, and they didn't care that I wanted to do tae kwon do more than ballet. However, for the most part, my brother and I were stereotypically masculine and feminine kids, respectively. I loved American Girl dolls, Barbies, Disney princesses, and in second grade, I wore a dress to school almost every day. Thus, even though we weren't raised to by our parents, my brother and I largely conformed to gendered norms. This makes me think that a lot of the way in which children become gendered is from their peers. For example, a boy may wear pink to school one day because he likes the color, but if he gets teased for it, he'll soon learn to start wearing what might be considered more masculine clothing.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny to see that you were interested in "boyish" things, because as a preschooler, all of my friends were girls, and subsequently I became interested in Barbie dolls. They were my favorite toy that year, and I remember going to the toy store to get new outfits for them and I would take good care of them while my little brother, then 3, would try and destroy them. I grew out of them, definitely, finding things like Pokemon and Legos and Hot Wheels more interesting, but my mother loves to tell stories of how I danced around with my dolls to 90s pop hits. I'm actually proud of my parents for letting me play with Barbies, because it shows that they were pretty liberal in their child-rearing and they didn't let gender stereotypes affect my play time.
DeleteI myself went to private school my whole life until attending Conn. For the purpose of this post I will focus on my preschool experience. From what I can remember the teachers (women) at my preschool were strict but they still like the teachers in Martin's article. The teachers let the “boys be boys” and were always checking on the girls to make sure they were behaving properly and behaving as a “young lady should” behave. For example I remember playing with a toy in my preschool and a boy came over and took it away and I was told to be nice and share and he had nothing said to him about the issue. My point is regardless of if a preschool is public or catholic gender is presented everywhere and even though uniforms girls were dresses and boy where pants. Children pay attention to this and they pay attention to gender as they get older. Gender is something that is not only learned from people and institutions such as schools. For example when I was younger my Aunt would buy be toothpaste with princess on them and my brother toothpaste with spider man or another cartoon character. I payed attention to that and so do today's children. It is no surprise that a girl would be taken care off more than a boy or scolded for being improper. Boys are seen as aggressive and independent individuals. The point is that children will learn gender through anything; as soon as they walk outside they see gender through people, advertisements, in clothing stores, etc.
ReplyDeleteJae replying to Jennifer