September 26, 2016 - 10:29
We touched on this in class. When gender is added to play it changes how we view this innocent act. It adds rules to something that is suppose to be free and chaotic. Boys should only play with action figures and should play rough, pull hair, get dirty. Girls should only play with dolls and should stay inside unless they're playing something light like hopscotch or jump rope something that involves a song. When these lines are crossed children are judged and reprimanded. Like when my male cousin would play barbies with me, other family members would whisper behind our backs and when my female cousin wouldn't the same family would talk. It is breaking social norms that confine us into a gender binary that only fullfills its "traditional" roles of dainty women and manly men.