On Wednesdays we wear pink. IF you're a girl of course.
In Chapter 4, Garbacik introduces the idea of how the gender roles is constructed as soon as we are born. Even when we are drooling, cooing, not being able to KNOW what we want, humans are constructing building blocks for what we are (gender) supposed to be. Garbacik expresses how "parenting and early social interaction" impacts SO immensely to what our gender roles.
When we are children, we are placed (forcefully and without intention) to "appropriate" places regarding our gender. Girls receive "toys of the home" and boys receive "toys of the world" and from there on we live out our lives living under the influence what is female and what is male.
As humans grow up to children and adults the roles we have been assigned to is even more signified by:
First in cartoons, girl smurfs has to be "sexy" and wear dresses because she's a girl.
Second in jobs, girls should go into career fields that is appropriate for girls well because they are girls and they just wouldn't look right if they were doing a man's job.
Garbacik expresses her concerns about how our assigned, not chosen gender roles really limit people of exploring what they truly are.
My Response:
As soon as I read this, I was a little bit torn. I definitely agree with Garbacik on how girls are and boys are "forced" into gender roles by their parents. However, when I was a child, I refused to play with barbies (I mean how freaking creepy are they?), I begged for legos (boys' toy of the world) or cars. I used to BAWL if my mom put me in a dress, and I basically chose to only wear my cool Osh Kosh B'gosh jeans wherever I went. This really made me curious on the fact that maybe this is why I grew up to be the way I am... I love boy clothes, when I go shopping, i usually go for what guys wear and "male" sneakers. I was just thiking that.
This chapter also made me feel how confused transgender kids would feel in their childhood. Imagine being forced to like things that you just don't enjoy and your parents exposing you to cartoon,s toys, clothes and haircuts that just doesn't suit or represent who you are.
In this chapter, I really enjoyed all the illustrations, especially the vaan diagrams showing the typical jobs for men and women. The diagram definitely bolstered the differences that women and men are treated with. I honestly could live without the illustrations of the historic people; the illustration just seemed forced to make the chapter more "colorful" but I do not think it is necessary.