So, it's been a while...
I've been busy with school lately, so it's been a while since I posted anything of real substance. Well, maybe I shouldn't say it that way, but I trust you know what I mean. It's been mostly fluff for a while now. Well, if you're tired of that, you're in for a treat today!
I have a class this semester called Media Culture and Diversity. We are focusing on representations of race and gender in the media. The first half of the class dealt with race and we're now in the process of moving into gender. I could talk a lot about the race stuff (how there's not much biologically that separates the races and the whole concept of race is socially constructed), but the gender stuff has really gotten to me, so I'll focus on that for now.
The first day after Spring Break, we talked in general about gender. We talked about how there are, obviously, some significant biological differences between males and females. However, the concept of gender (i.e. masculine and feminine) is socially constructed. In other words, there is nothing essentially masculine or feminine about a baby when it is born. Based on whether the baby is born male or female, however, the parents and friends of that child immediately start to teach him or her what it means to be masculine if he's a boy or feminine if she's a girl (they paint his room blue, they give her a doll to play with, they give him sports equipment and her an easy bake oven, etc). These ideas of what masculine and feminine are have been constructed by society and our culture. It's a complete nurture over nature argument.
This has been a really challenging thing for me to think about. I think I've decided it's both. There are some things that are essential, that are innate, to being masculine or feminine. And then, of course, there are those socially constructed roles (or even stereotypes) that are forced upon all of us based on our being male or female.
I've been trying to think about what the Bible says about masculinity and femininity. I have yet to do a real study on it (so suggestions are welcome!), but I think even there we see representations that both essential things and socially constructed things play into it. Some of the roles laid out in the Bible were cultural things for that location and time period. For example, women were not educated, so it made sense they would not be allowed to speak in church services. However, there are some things that I believe God laid out because of those innate masculine and feminine traits. That the man is to be the spiritual head of the household, that the woman should be the nurturer of the family, etc. I think God, as our Creator, knows that there are some things men are made for and some things women are made for. Knowing that, He outlined roles for us that complement those things.
And maybe that's what we see in society as well. It's not that a woman can't be a construction worker if she wants. Or that a man can't be a daycare worker. It's that, in general (and I know that's a scary word to use), there are things that men are better at than women and vice versa. I think that comes from the things inside us that make us masculine or feminine.
All of this makes me wonder how I will (or should) be with my children someday. If I have a boy, should I buy "boy things" for him, trucks and transformers and dinosaurs, oh my! If I have a little girl, should I put her in princess dresses and give her baby dolls to play with? I don't know. I've heard that children show their masculine and feminine tendencies pretty early in life, so I guess I'll have to play it by ear. I don't want to force a role onto my child that they'll feel they have to break out of later.
You can probably tell I'm still processing all of this stuff, but I was ready to throw it out there. What do you think?
I have a class this semester called Media Culture and Diversity. We are focusing on representations of race and gender in the media. The first half of the class dealt with race and we're now in the process of moving into gender. I could talk a lot about the race stuff (how there's not much biologically that separates the races and the whole concept of race is socially constructed), but the gender stuff has really gotten to me, so I'll focus on that for now.
The first day after Spring Break, we talked in general about gender. We talked about how there are, obviously, some significant biological differences between males and females. However, the concept of gender (i.e. masculine and feminine) is socially constructed. In other words, there is nothing essentially masculine or feminine about a baby when it is born. Based on whether the baby is born male or female, however, the parents and friends of that child immediately start to teach him or her what it means to be masculine if he's a boy or feminine if she's a girl (they paint his room blue, they give her a doll to play with, they give him sports equipment and her an easy bake oven, etc). These ideas of what masculine and feminine are have been constructed by society and our culture. It's a complete nurture over nature argument.
This has been a really challenging thing for me to think about. I think I've decided it's both. There are some things that are essential, that are innate, to being masculine or feminine. And then, of course, there are those socially constructed roles (or even stereotypes) that are forced upon all of us based on our being male or female.
I've been trying to think about what the Bible says about masculinity and femininity. I have yet to do a real study on it (so suggestions are welcome!), but I think even there we see representations that both essential things and socially constructed things play into it. Some of the roles laid out in the Bible were cultural things for that location and time period. For example, women were not educated, so it made sense they would not be allowed to speak in church services. However, there are some things that I believe God laid out because of those innate masculine and feminine traits. That the man is to be the spiritual head of the household, that the woman should be the nurturer of the family, etc. I think God, as our Creator, knows that there are some things men are made for and some things women are made for. Knowing that, He outlined roles for us that complement those things.
And maybe that's what we see in society as well. It's not that a woman can't be a construction worker if she wants. Or that a man can't be a daycare worker. It's that, in general (and I know that's a scary word to use), there are things that men are better at than women and vice versa. I think that comes from the things inside us that make us masculine or feminine.
All of this makes me wonder how I will (or should) be with my children someday. If I have a boy, should I buy "boy things" for him, trucks and transformers and dinosaurs, oh my! If I have a little girl, should I put her in princess dresses and give her baby dolls to play with? I don't know. I've heard that children show their masculine and feminine tendencies pretty early in life, so I guess I'll have to play it by ear. I don't want to force a role onto my child that they'll feel they have to break out of later.
You can probably tell I'm still processing all of this stuff, but I was ready to throw it out there. What do you think?
posted by Michelle at 9:19 AM
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