When I hear the word gender I
automatically think “socially constructed”. We are all apart of this grand
scheme where blue is for boys, and pink is for girls. There is really no true
explanation for it, it just is and we go along with it. This week in class we spoke
about gender identity and after reading Feinberg’s article “We Are All Works in
Progress” I realized the segregation people experience once they step out of
the established male and female roles. The fact that we are always encouraged
to be our own individuals, but have to follow these gender guidelines while
doing so is a bit contradictory to me.
I came across a video about some children
who confronted this issue by challenging our gender roles. Donna Dickens calls
the video “Little Boy Wants To Be A Princess For Halloween”. A mother and child
go into a costume store, and the child picks out a costume that is not
considered fit for their gender. It was interesting for me to see the people’s
reactions around them. I never realized how much pressure people put on little
children to become accustomed to what is for boys, and what is for girls. All
of the reactions the child got for picking a costume made for the opposite
gender were negative. Each person tried to push a gender appropriate costume on
the child except for one woman. When this woman accepted the costume choice and
did not give negative feedback to the child it tied into what Feinberg was
saying in “We Are All Works in Progress”. It was stated, “Each person should
have the right to choose between pink or blue tinted gender categories, as well
as all the other hues of the palette. At this moment in time, the right is
denied to us. But together, we could make it a reality”(Feinberg, 193). This
video demonstrated how alive gender roles are today, but how some people can still
see past our gender guidelines.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/little-boy-wants-to-be-a-princess-for-halloween
I watched the video and I agree, it was incredible how many people fall under the same hole. It is really sad that although we've come a long way in technology and education our children are still suffering the limited choices they have when it comes to expressing their identity. Then they grow up and they fall into the same trap as their parents and limit their own children's choices. It is all a cycle but Feinberg is right, we are all works in progress because we all fall into this trap. I also agree with your post that there are now some people who can see past our guidelines and that inspires hope for the future. However, we must all work at our discrimination and limitations as well as imitate those who are showing acceptance is the key.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video I couldn’t help but think how much the parents showed their insecurities about a person’s sexuality. They wanted so badly to conform their children to the pink-blue gender and not give them an opportunity for expression. In my opinion I think the parent’s with the negative comments are teaching their children to be prejudice. I applaud the woman who was very open minded and brought up a very good point about what the spiderman costume represented. This video made me think of a news story that I saw on TV, during the winter Olympics. It was about a Russian man who is gay and is moving to the US to escape the inflected physical abuse of hate that would be considered a crime here. In order to accept people for who they are “we need to stop limiting our gender definitions to the real of the visual” (Somerson pg. 201). This experiment backs up Feinberg statement “ We are again raising questions about the societal treatment of people based on their sex and gender expression” (pg. 167). As a society we should ask ourselves what is it that makes us so afraid of people that are different. What makes those differences turn to HATRED?
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this interesting blog post! We talked a lot in class about how gender is socially constructed but this video spoke for that. These parents chose to confine their children to the conformities of heteronormativity rather than allowing them to be what they wanted to be. The costumes were deemed as either "for boys" or "for girls" by parents to reinforce societal standards of gender. These young kids don't even realize that there is a structure and social stigma that they are going against. They see a costume they like and want to be it. Toys and costumes are geared toward specific genders; maybe toy companies need to start making unisex costumes and we as a society need to not make such harsh lines on what is acceptable and what is not. The woman who stuck up for the young girl was awesome, but I would like to see if someone would stick up for the young boy. The social constraints on young boys can be even more restrictive than those placed on little girls. Nobody laughs at a girl wearing pants, but a boy wearing a skirt or a dress to school would be the center of ridicule.
ReplyDeleteThe video was very interesting to actually be able to see first-hand how people react to a diversion from the norm of gender roles. It’s sad to see so many parents that were siding with the mother, in almost out of fear of that the child would grow up to be homosexual. The woman at the end of the video that sided with the girl wearing the spider man costume said that it shows the girl wants to grow up to be an empowered woman. When a child or person doesn’t follow the path of heteronormativity, it showcases what Feinberg says in “We Are All Works In Progress”. This video demonstrates that each person, or in this case child, is a unique individual and we need to not deny that right of identity. Furthermore, identity should not be labeled by gender-codes but rather customized to each particular individual. We are all works in progress.
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