Gender Roles in American Society

 Before reading the articles “Toys Start the Gender Equality Rift” and “What’s So Bad about a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?” I used to think that gender was clear cut and people who defied traditional gender roles were weirdoes. However I now know that the issue’s regarding gender variant children are much more complex and deeper than simply deviant behavior. I honestly have never given much thought or attention to ideas about transgender or different gendered behaviors or to the idea that toys can drastically affect ones choices later in life. I always thought that sex and gender were entirely interchangeable and that your genitals were the only factor in whether or not a person was a man or a woman. However reading these articles about young boys and girls that feel normal and comfortable playing with toys meant for the opposite sex and dressing or acting like the opposite sex has changed how I view the matter considerably.

    In “Toys Start the Gender Equality Rift”, the author examines a British toy store that has used colors to clearly mark off which section is for boys and which is for girls. “Girls’ toys are often about beauty and the home” says Laura Nelson. She contrasts this with boy’s toys that are all about “…building things and having adventures.” The colors blue and pink are often used to clearly differentiate between the two sections and the author believes that even this seemingly harmless form of segregation is damaging to our society. I used to think that was normal and never worried about it. I grew up with my older sister Kerry and she played with Barbie while I played with GI Joe and small plastic army men. The article takes the position that teaching girls that worrying about makeup and the home and finding a man starts at playtime and should stop as it creates a gender barrier or rift from a very young age. This schism divides young children and they should be encouraged to play together.

    I do agree with the article to the extent that causing a large gender divide and making it seem totally wrong to let children play with toys that target the opposite gender is wrong but I personally have never felt the effects of this schism over the toys. When I was young Kerry and I often played together with both our toys. She used my GI Joe to give Barbie a wedding (she did not yet own a Ken doll) and I used Barbie as a hostage for him to rescue. We both played with the others toys in this way and neither felt there was anything wrong with it. We also both loved Star Wars and played with Star Wars toys together all the time. She would use the Princess Leia action figures and I would use Luke Skywalker and we had many adventures together like this. While we were clearly choosing the toys meant for our different genders we never felt any sort of divide or rift because of it and so this particular issue has never been a big deal too me personally. Now that I’m aware of the potential consequences of this divided playtime I can only hope more children play as my sister and I did, together and without any preconceived notions of it being right or wrong to do so.

    The article “What’s So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?” was much more interesting in how it got me to evaluate my past thoughts and prejudices against trans-gendered people and people who fall into less traditional gender categories. This article discusses children who are unusual in that they don’t conform to traditional gender norms. It talks about the trials of both the children and the parents in dealing with bullying and rejection and trying to fit in despite being clearly different. The article mentions boys that like wearing dress’s and makeup and even talks about a “Camp for gender variant children” as well as a blog titled “Pink is for Boys” that is run by a mother of a gender variant boy. It also heavily mentions the “middle space” that these children occupy. Not all of them identify as the opposite sex and not all of them will likely grow up to be gay. It’s not an orientation or transgender thing for many but simply a part of who they are and what they like. Having never given much thought to the ideas presented in the article, it was this one that I found most illuminating.

    I have never encountered a child like the ones featured in the article, and thus never imagined gender could have so diverse a meaning for so many. I always thought that boys are boys and girls are girls and it’s as simple as that. I generally thought of trans-gendered peoples as freaks simply because I could wrap my mind around paying thousands of dollars to let a doctor mutilate your genitals and then pump you full of hormones so you can feel different. It was horrific for me and I had similar opinions on cross dressers. I knew a boy in high school who liked to wear girl’s clothes and thought he was a weirdo creep. I just figured he was unusual and creepy and left it at that. This article with its focus on how these kids are normal everyday people who just happen to have unusual taste in clothes and toys exposed some ignorance and bias I have had for some time. Some of them like to be thought of as the other sex and that’s not as terrible as I used to think either. This one article in particular has opened my eyes in a big way to bigotry and how causally I myself had fallen victim to it.