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As you can see, my mind is a little everywhere these days, but in a good way. Sparks just got an investment property, so I will be venturing into single-parenthood for a few weeks, which is fine if said property investment means I get to stay home for a little while after I finish my masters degree. (I know that staying home AFTER I get the degree doesn't make sense but the degree will not vanish if I choose not to work for a couple of years) I'm feeling under the weather AGAIN (and really, if the weather is nice, why wouldn't you want to be under it? Who makes up these phrases?!). Daniel is three months today and as great as ever. I've had two nights of 6+ hours of sleep for myself, where D is sleeping 8-5ish and then again until we leave for work. And D is napping in his crib--he finally doesn't fight it! Except he naps on his tummy, which of course means I'm a horrible parent and will soon be eaten by a lion (see this post). He sleeps with his butt in the air, and at this rate, I think he will crawl before he rolls over.
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| Photo proof of butt-in-air sleeping. I love his giraffe socks |
I was thinking this morning about the phrase "gender is a social construct." I happened to be channel flipping yesterday during D's nap time and saw a brief interview with a lady who put out a documentary on "Miss Representation" of girls by society and how detrimental this can be to their self image. I was intrigued by both the documentary (which I haven't seen in its entirety) and the claim about gender. What does that truly mean? I am a female, I was born a female. Wearing pink doesn't MAKE me a girl...so does "gender as a social contract" mean that society expects certain things of us because of our gender? Or does our gender determine how society sees us? Daniel's nursery is decorated with sports. He wears sports onesies and already owns Steelers gear. Does this mean we will force him to play football? No. But, if gender is, as mentioned in this documentary, a "social construct," then society expects him to wear blue and play sports. Honestly, I'm ok with that. I want him to be a boy and play sports and get dirty.
Anyway, I really am curious about this topic to the point where I'll probably research it. I may even have my students read about it in relation to Streetcar Named Desire, which we are currently reading. I couldn't ask for a better piece of literature with such defined gender roles and personalities! Your thoughts?
3 comments:
I think we dress our babies in clothing that is attractive to us. Of course we don't know what kind of people they will be and what their interests will be. I think young children assimilate to their parents expectations and adopt their parents' opinions (like when they survey 3rd grade classrooms on who they want to be president). Then as they get older they start to explore and "try on" other ways of seeing the world. That may or may not include defying gender roles. I do think these roles are mostly a social construct, but some of these roles are informed by real physical or biological differences in the sexes.
My boss got our baby boy a sleep sack with footballs on it. I used it but my husband and I don't know the first thing about football so it was funny to think of our baby as a football fan.
Thanks for your thoughts! I'm so intrigued by this. I guess women began defying gender roles long ago when you think about it. Maybe it's just recently that men have fine the same.
I think this is a very interesting topic as well. I think it would be wrong to completely disregard the unique qualities and gift of both genders. Femininity andasculinity are so much more than blue vs pink and footballs vs dolls. I tell my kids they can be anything they want to be as far as professional and interests, but I reaching my son to revere protect and respect women. I hope to foster the nurturing side of my daughters because I think the complentality of the female and male genius together form a more beautiful image of God. There is an interesting book by a Dr. Sax called Why Gender Matters. It discusses how we have to recognize the what is unique about each gender so that we can teach and develop each child to his/her full potential. Anyway, hope that littlean of yours keeps up those long stretches of sleep!
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