Looking at all of the young children (newborn, baby, and toddlers) accessories at department/big box stores, such as Walmart, it is obvious to see how gender is communicated. Girl accessories are usually pink, purple, and sometimes yellow. They will also have flowers, hearts, cute bugs, and polka dot patterns on the bottles and pacifiers. Their socks have a little ruffle around the ankle to make it more "girly" and there are also bows and clips to put on their head to seem more cute. The styles of cute, sparkles, or looking like a ballerina, seems most common in young girls clothing. Boys accessories are usually blue, green, and red. Some patterns associated with boys are different shapes, sports balls (basketball, football, etc.), sayings on their clothes like "The ladies love me" or super hero logos. One time I was at Walmart and saw a onsie for a new born boy. It was a superman shirt and had abs drawn in to make a baby boy look tough. For young boys, it is common to wear clothing that makes them look tough, despite their age.
Gender is "framed" as early as infancy by what the stores have available to buy. Young girls wear pink because its "made specifically for them". Young boys wear blue for the same reason. If a parent put their newborn daughter in a blue shirt, some people would probably think the newborn is a boy. That's not to say that someone can't put their newborn daughter in a blue shirt, but it kind of points out how right away, society has an affect on that child. My conclusion from this is that gender is "framed" not just by what kind of reproductive organs you have, or your birth certificate, its also from society and what they surround you with at a very young age. Even though girls can be tom boys, there are still certain accessories that are only associated with girls.
Qualities that are emphasized for girls are dress to impress, be cute, accessorize wherever you can and be a sweet little girl. For boys, qualities that are emphasized are play sports, be tough, act like Superman, and be a stud. Activities associated with girls are playing with dolls, picking flowers, playing tea, and listening to nice songs. Activities associated with boys are playing sports, getting strong, don't be soft, eat like a man, and don't play with dolls. Girls characteristics is being polite and sweet. Boys characteristics are being manly and attract the ladies, even if you've just been born.
I like your comment about how there was a shirt that had drawn on abs on it. This definitely shows how society is trying to already tell a guy what they are 'supposed' to look like. As if nothing else is acceptable, just because there isn't a shirt for a little boy with like a chubby belly on it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comment if a parent put their baby girl in a blue shirt others would probably think she's a boy. This happened to one of my younger siblings expect it was a unisex outfit and the color was yellow, everyone thought she was a boy because of the outfit. I still don't know why they thought she was a boy because yellow is usually a unisex color or a "girl" color in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI also find it interesting that children are not only defined by the color of clothing and what not that they wear at a young age, but also the fact that images of how they should look are already superimposed on them.
ReplyDeleteHahahha, I like your comment "boys characteristics are being manly and attract the ladies, even if you've just been born". Like Alec said, it's sad that images of how they should look are imposed on them at such young ages.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate how you discuss that gender is framed by many things outside of ourselves. That example of the abs on the onesie is a perfect one to show the importance of physical strength to masculinity!
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