#gendereducation

I think that the way the Bem’s chose to raise their children in the home environment was a great model of gender neutral upbringing. Although the article is quite outdated, gender stereotypes were even more prevalent and extreme at that time, so I think they did a wonderful job. It must be very hard to have to check all books and filter media to make sure that there were no assumptions of any kind placed in their mind. However, I do believe that the interactions with their peers in school is what failed to make their idea perfect. I know that from my childhood, I was heavily influenced by the children around me in school, especially because that is where I spend most of my time. This is not because they truly cared how I was, but because that is how they were raised, to question what they didn’t see to fit the “norm” of society, just as their parents had taught them. I see gender stereotyping as one of the most harmful aspects placed on a child’s mind. A child’s main purpose is to learn and grow, but stereotypes are so engrained into society that children will never learn for themselves. Although the world is more educated and accepting as of now, I feel that raising a child to be gender neutral would need even more effort than at the time of the Bem family. The name of the child would have to neutral and so would the entire environment. I feel that this would mean no social media, or media or any kind, and the child would most likely have to be homeschooled. Homeschooling would prevent the bias that the son experienced, with the questioned hair clips and “feminine” play toys. I realize that not all parents (planned or unplanned) have the time or money to construct a life that the Bem psychologists did, I just hope that as the world grows, parents and peers and extended family show children that growing up to be who they choose to be without any gender- based restrictions mentally or physically is accepted and normal. I hope that the new generation of parents raise their girls to be as fierce as they can be and to never settle for the bare minimum, and for their boys to acknowledge sensitivity around them and understand that it is okay to accept what they don’t know; this issue is more deep rooted and has a more powerful dynamic than just clothing and toys.

The article “Gender Education” displays the effects of trying to raise children as gender neutral in a society that follows gender binary constructions. I found the article particularly intriguing because it does not follow societies norms. Where in a society blue and masculinity is associated to males, while flowers and lack of independence can be associated with females. Sandra and Daryl Blem decision in raising their children to be gender neutral prevents them from being potentially exposed to gender stereotypes at such a young age (well at least in the comfort of their own home). I personally never understood the issue of a boy favoring the color pink or a girl preferring to play video games instead of Barbie’s especially since they are just kids and their personal interest are harmless. Within my personal experiences I have witnessed close friends and even relatives deny their child certain activities because it’s not in “correlation” with their gender, for example I have witnessed a parent allow their daughter to play with both “boy and girl” toys solely because she was playing pretend house and needed a mother, father, sister and brother characters. The daughter was allowed to play all the roles in the pretend house game but her brother was only allowed to play the role of the father or brother. The Blems did not want their children to be a part of societies social construct in effort to allow them to explore their options and have a wider view on gender. However, I feel sheltering your children from what society deems as norms may also cause confusion for the children. Since they are learning one thing at home but witness another with their peers and even in the media. Children are more likely influenced to follow their peers since they spend most of their childhood in a class room. The idea of educating children on gender can be a very debatable topic especially when discussing the routes on how to do so. This was a very interesting read, I learned that it is okay to break the norms of society rather than repeating a compelling cycle.

Interesting, debatable, thought-provoking, and compelling were just some of the words that came to mind while reading Fine, C. Gender Education. It brought me back to my childhood and how I was raised. Growing up in the Hispanic/Latino culture everything is gender and there are so many gender stereotypes and they are so profound; meaning they are so deeply embedded into the culture that I believe we’d have to move mountains to create change. My parents would never have gone to that extreme as to gender neutralizing practically every aspect of our live so much as to drawing in our books, as they did in the article. Don’t get me wrong, I respect different styles of effective parenting but would that be considered effective parenting. In a way, I see it as guiding your children into the world blindly. You are teaching them something completely opposite of what the world will expose them too. Yes, you may learn your values from your parents but you spend more time with your peers. Also, this style of parenting may confuse the child with the two conflicting perspectives.  Yet on the other hand, I see it as allowing your children to enter this world with a completely open mind. Even though this idea made the wheels in my head turn; nonetheless, I do agree that women and men are capable of doing the same thing and one of the few differences between them is their sex organs.Another noteworthy aspect of the article is how much these gender stereotypes follow us throughout life, from infancy to adulthood. They are plastered everywhere, from the Disney movies we’d watch as kids to the commercials and environments we are exposed to as we get older. Also, how blank and claylike children are. To where they can be molded into and taught anything but even then, they have a sense of their own identity. As shown in the article how children would conform to the stereotypes as long as someone else was around but once they were alone, they played or behaved as they felt was right to them at that moment. So, to someone, such as myself, who was exposed to these concepts it is the norm until these ideals are challenged. You then can take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Once we acknowledge the problem we will then be able to reform it. But is reforming how gender education is taught the way to go about this change?                                                                                 -Agape Arias, 9/5/18

What I also thought was interesting about the Gender Education reading is how the media can portray women as being underneath men. How being a man is just the default, meanwhile being a woman comes secondary. This is mainly due to the fact that the people who portray the media are mostly made up of men. It’s like a never ending, unattainable goal of trying to be perfect. I believe this can definitely cause self esteem issues in people and give girls a negative perception of themselves. As they grow up, these feelings can manifest itself and lead to things like depression and eating disorders. Reinforcing the idea that women aren't strong or worthy enough. The reading briefly brought up Disney pictures and how they’ve mainly used the “traditional feminine approach” in their works. Teaching girls, they need to “catch a man” time after time again. I do recall a Disney Channel show called Good Luck Charlie, (2010-2014) that showed a same sex couple in there show who were women. While it wasn’t the premise of the show and was controversial, it did give children an example of a more realistic world to look upon.

What Is Gender Identity? It’s our deeply held, internal sense of self as male, female, a blend of both, or neither; who we internally know ourselves to be. *********************** Since this Instagram feed is a mix of my art, myself and issues around gender identity, I thought I’d give a simple definition of “Gender Identity.” *********************** #EducateYourself #GenderIdentity #Male #Female #BiGender #Agender #NonBinary #Genderqueer #Trans101 #Neutrosis #DemiBoy #DemiGirl #GenderEducation

outraged, but wearing her happy birthday party hat