When it comes to the area of gender roles and what each gender is supposed to be positioned in, it is very interesting to see how different people's views are. Are all girls expected or supposed to be in dance classes and like girly things like makeup and clothes? And are all boys expected or supposed to be in sports like football and like trucks and cars? Honestly, this is a problem because it is a very sexist subject regarding what each gender should or should not do. My cousin and I will continue to have a hard time understanding each other about this subject. We both have differing view points about this because of our different hobbies and personalities. I cannot force her to like martial arts and she cannot force me to quit either. We are different people who have different interests. I grew up as a tomboy and like sports. While she grew up as a tomboy too but now enjoys more girly things than I do most of the time. It also all comes down to how families are constructed and run. Some families let their children freely discover their interests and hobbies while other families might decide interests for their children and do not have the time or flexibility to support their children's interests. The only way to have peace on this issue is to have a mutual understanding that everyone has different interests and what one may do is their choice and others should respect it.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Girls should do this...not that.
When I was a young child, I was a tomboy. While other girls played with dolls and dress up clothes, I played with swords, cars and enjoyed sports. I was particularly interested in martial arts and started doing Taekwondo. I still do Taekwondo to this very day and am a third degree black belt. Even though I have grown out of my tomboy stage, I still enjoy sports and still have a little bit of the tomboy-ness in me. I remember about three years ago when I was talking to my girl cousin about how I was going to test for my second degree black belt. Her exact words were, "Why are you continuing? You are already a black belt and plus, you are a girl. Martial arts is not a very girly thing to do". I realized even more how different people's views are regarding gender roles at that moment.
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Interesting post! Yep, it's always interesting to ponder gender roles, how they came about, and how the different ways they have influenced our lives. In addition to the general feminine activities and masculine activities, it is also interesting to ruminate upon the different roles different genders take in different cultures--how in some cultures, these roles are more defined and rigid while others the roles are more flexible.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post because I could feel how passionate your opinion about gender roles is. I completely agree that every child should be allowed to do what they enjoy doing no matter the activity. Also while reading I had a thought come to mind. Even with in gender roles there is more subdivision. For instance with males, if you play sports you are a jock, if you do well and excel in school you are a nerd, if you are into music you are a band geek, I could list these on forever. Touching on this might lean on to stereotyping but I just don't see the point in all of this. Who cares if someone likes band, or sports, or is male and likes to dance, or is female and loves to be outside making forts out of whatever she can find. If we are truly interested in something we should be allowed the right to strive in it. Who are we to judge what can and cannot be done?
ReplyDeleteI can see where you are coming from because I grew up similarly to you. My brother was a year older and my sister was a year younger so we all played together, but I always liked doing the things he enjoyed. I ended up playing with hot wheels, not barbies and I played basketball instead of cheerleading. Not everything ended up this way, but I was definitely more of a tomboy when I was younger. I agree that a lot of what you are interested in comes from when you are younger and that is largely because of your environment. Like you said, it could be that kids discover it on their own somehow or that families choose it for them. Either way it seems that gender roles generally play out as expected, but today I feel like they are less traditional.
ReplyDeleteWe don't even have a positive word for what Heather IS: 'tomboy' calls up so much negative stuff--or at least suggests we need to outgrow it.
ReplyDeleteAnd remind me not to ever cross Heather.....