Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Gender
I think it's crazy how the social construct of gender affects us so early in life, even as babies. From the time we are born, being wrapped in a bink or blue blanket, to pink or blue rooms and items, to commericials and toys being geared towards a certain gender and how that gender is "supposed to" act, behave, what they like, etc. For example, the ad for a rattle for a "beautiful baby girl" which was a ring rattle, and a tool rattle for a boy which state "for a busy baby boy". This sends the message that male and female roles in society differ greatly, and these are the roles we are supposed to take on. Are there gender neutral ads? Or gender neutral products? And how has it come to be that women must take on the roles of being submissive, sexy, useless for anything but being there as an attractive object for men to look at, and men being portrayed as powerful, strong, dominating, smart, intuitive, etc. How did these roles develop for certain sexes, and not the other way around?
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Michelle, I love what you've posted here. I mean I always understand that gender was constructed socially based on norms and roles and other things, but I never took into consideration the fact that it started so young. Parents don't want their child to be question or judged early in life so they stick to the conventional pink and blue. What shocked me most in class were the commercials we saw for the easy bake oven and the trucks. Each commercial had basically step by step directions on what to do with the toys. This shows what jobs kids are supposed to like and what they should be good at. I would love to see more and more baby products coming out in greens and yellows and see what choices parents make then.
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