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| An image of a boy who likes to wear dresses: https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/imag es?q=tbn:AN9GcRWZAlAC-jIL-eZV5jB7GuQV2TqU5zaNu wHIf_BucfUaoqe-oGj |
The
dress. Upon seeing this word, the mind is bombarded with a plethora of images
of dress, and the majority of people would imagine the dress on a women. A
dress (including its cousin, the skirt) is the ultimate symbol of femininity,
of womanhood, and nothing else. But why else would we think otherwise? We were
raised with the idea that dresses and skirts go hand in hand with a woman
wearing it (unless we’re talking about kilts, then that’s a whole other
conversation) we would see such examples in places such as movies,
advertisements, and toys, all have been branded into our minds since early
childhood. Bennhold claims that “mothers play a key role in nurturing
stereotypes that later in life become one of the most stubborn barriers to
gender equality, with cascading implications for women’s interests, skills and
status in society.” (1)
It
is hard to hammer down the fact that, times they are a changing, and such stories
and articles like “Toys Start the Gender Equality Rift,” (Bennhold) “What’s So
Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?” (Padawer) and “It's OK to Be
Neither: Teaching That Supports Gender-Variant Children” (Tempel), are examples
of how societies are growing in both awareness and acceptance of people that do
not fit into the age old image of “normal.” (Though it can be argued that there
is no such thing as “normal.”) even though I have never paid much attention to
the affects of toys, labels and clothing that appear in the development of a
young child’s life, I am now aware of impacted, and depth of the impact, it has
on others and, to a further extent, myself.
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| still shot from the movie Tomboy (2011): http://www.artsquest.org/images/film/tomboy.jpg |
Upon
the research and class discussion of the gender topic, it has provoked the
internal thought of how I as a female fell in these barriers. Well, for one, do
not enjoy the color pink; I don’t really fall into the girly side of the
spectrum the authors criticizing. (Padawer 1) After a deep inflection I
realized probably why I was not as girly as some of my cousin, friends and girl
classmates are. Growing up I spent the majority of my time playing with my
older brother, two years my senior, participating in activities that were based
on what he wanted to; he did not want to play Barbie’s with me. (Probably
because he had already succumbed too his gender stereotypes) I had no problem
playing whatever he wanted to, I really didn’t know any better. I recall
playing with Legos, Bionicles, and G. I. Joes (boy, did he love his G. I.
Joes). Also a majority of the time, as we grew, I spent many a days just
watching my brother play video games. I had watched him play so much that I was
able to walk his friend through beating a certain level of the Legend of Zelda.
Some say I was a tom boy at the time, I just saw it as that I had a great
fondness for overalls. But what, I guess, seemed to have “balanced me out” on
this spectrum was the hand-me-downs I had received over the years from my older
cousins. I would receive skirts and dresses as well as Barbie’s and a kitchen
set from my older cousin Bridget, (who was as girl as they came). Nevertheless,
I recall a time were I began wear more and more dresses more and more often as
I went through elementary school; due to the fact that my older cousin, whom i
greatly admired, had given me new waves upon waves of dresses in the
hand-me-down bag that had made its way to my house every few months.
As
a female, I understand the examples and ideals that I am supposed to live up
to. However it also in itself is a hindrance,
because it makes it all the more difficult to understand those of the opposite
sex who enjoy partaking in the wearing of feminine garment; skirts and dresses.
Before reading Padawer’s article, the thought really had never crossed my mind
of young boys, especially at the age of four, would have the want to wear and
do what would be considered as feminine things. (Padawer 1) despite the fat
that was initially shocked by the idea of a gender variant child, I feel that
there really is not problem with is; it’s hard for male to express who they are
and feel like especially with the pressures of society these days.
Nevertheless,
as previously stated, I seem to be a victim, of such stereotypes while
growing-up. During and after reading these articles, I noticed a common theme
in my thought process: how would I apply this as a mother. It must just be the
stereotype in me talking, but once I had read these works I had thought to
myself on multiply occasions where I battled between the thoughts of “this is
just to out there for me” and “maybe I should do that?” and to be frank I
really don’t think I should be making that decision just yet. I discussed these
articles with one of my close friends and she too had not really put into
thought the actual pressures that exist amongst young children.
Laura
nelson, a neuroscientist, wanted to break down such pressure for both male and
females by leading a campaign against the gender sorting at Hamleys, a London toy store. Nelson
made the observation that “Until the toys themselves and the marketing are
tackled, there will always be pressure. On girls and boys to pursue the route
in life consistent with their stereotype.” (qtd. In Bennhold 2) this claim by
nelson really highlights how the pressure exist even in the in a toy store;
though one can argue that nelson is taking the fun and innocence of a toy store
and drag it to a sinister and negative play. I'm sure form the toy store’s points
of view, as well as any other toy store, that they are just doing as others
have done before them; “Toy makers may then have an incentive to follow.”
(Bennhold 2)
In
Tempel’s article, she gave a list of choices between certain options:
“Skateboard or bike? Milk or juice? Dogs or cats? A hot day or a snow day?
Fiction or nonfiction? Soccer or basketball? A beach or a pool? ” (Tempel 2-3).
Like her students in her class, I partook in the choosing of the choices Tempel
had given: bike, juice, snow day, fiction, basketball, and beach. This of
course sparked the thought of which of each choice is boy and which girl? Is
there a boy and a girl choice? Which then sparked the thoughts of, how somethings
just don’t have a gender association to them?
The world is not full of just black and white situations, their are many grey areas. in these cases of kids bending the gender roles, they are living proof of a grey area by not choosing whether they would want to live a pink or blue life.
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