This unit’s lectures discussed the concept of gender policing. For your discussion then, please think about how gender policing has functioned and still functions in your own life. For example, how have your parents, family members, friends, and/or peers demonstrated normative gender ideology (or “taught” you your gender)? How have you taken steps to police the way you “do” your own gender?
Also consider how do these ideas contribute to the perpetuation of heteronormativity, as discussed by Karin A. Martin’ in “Normalizing Heterosexuality: Mothers’ Assumptions, Talk, and Strategies with Young Children,” and Kristen Myers and Laura Raymond in “Elementary School Girls and Heteronormativity: The Girl Project”?
To receive full credit on your work: CITE the readings (and other course materials), answer all parts of the prompt, meet the word count minimum, and remember to respond to (at least) one of your peers.
As a child, I remember my mother forcing me to wear dresses to school, family dinners, and get-togethers even though I hated wearing dresses and preferred to wear pants, tights, or leggings instead. As far as children’s toys went, I had boxes and boxes of Barbies, colorful ponies, unicorns, teddy bears, and stuffed animals; even oven, baking, and other kitchen toys. For birthdays and Christmas, I would receive arts and craft kits that allowed me to create beaded bracelets for all my girl friends at school. When I wanted to learn how to whistle, my father would reprimand me and tell me that I wasn’t allowed to whistle because I am a girl, and also he told me that I would be looked down upon by all my peers because they would laugh and make fun of me. He strongly emphasized that whistling was strictly meant for boys and not for girls as it was considered “unlady-like”. As I grew a little older and entered middle school, I became some what of a Tomboy. I dressed in nothing but pants, jeans, and t-shirts, I hated skirts and dresses, and I did not care, even the slightest, about the way my hair, face, or the way I dressed, even looked like. I was extremely active and participated in sports at my school. I played tennis, basketball, football, and other athletic games with my peers during recess. This phase and trend continued well into my high school years as I stayed active in school sports such as tennis. Now looking back towards my adolescent years, I can proudly say that I enjoy the person I’ve become due to gender policing. Now that I am older and much wiser, I am more aware of gender and how it played a large part in who I decided to become. If my mother had not forced me to wear all those dresses when I was younger, and if it were not for my father who scolded me about whistling, I would not have become the well-rounded and balanced girl I am today. Not only do I still appreciate comfortable clothing, but I also enjoy wearing dresses as well, and I also have the ability to whistle, even against my father’s wishes! According to the article, “Normalizing Heterosexuality: Mothers’ Assumptions, Talk, and Strategies with Young Children”, written by Karin A. Martin, she mentions that, “…socialization can be understood as a process through which children make meaning from the many pieces of culture they absorb. They simultaneously alter, resist, and manage the conflicting meanings of various pieces of culture, discourse, interactions, and social structures.” Much like Martin discusses, as children (including myself), we grow up learning gender roles and social norms through our parents only to later on alter, resist, and manage the meanings behind the socialization in which we receive as children. This statement is very true to how I developed my own self-image and gender preferences; even though I grew up hating to wear dresses, I’ve now learned to like them, and when I was younger I wasn’t allowed to whistle, but now that I am older, I’ve decided that I can whistle whenever my heart desires to. As we grow into adults we dictate our own sense of self and find our own gender preferences based on how we perceive gender and social constructs as children; further analyzing, resisting, changing, and discovering the meanings of who we are and who we want to be.
Sources:
Martin, Karin A. “Normalizing Heterosexuality: Mothers’ Assumptions, Talk, and Strategies with Young Children”. American Sociology Review. Vol. 74, No. 2 (Apr., 2009), pp.190-207. < http://www.jstor.org/stable/27736057>.
