Being raised in a Lutheran environment I was completely oblivious to the process of construction and the "damage was already done". There is no doubt in my mind that seeing a man preaching to a crowd of people every week trained my malleable mind to correlate men with power. Then I started to reflect on my own family. Growing up I considered my grandmother to be far more "religious" than my grandfather. Why was that? I knew my grandfather was a religious man and I can even remember us talking about faith, but my grandmother still stood above him. I think a true explanation for this could be that my grandmother felt that she had to compensate or over-express herself because she was constructed to feel somewhat less than a man. I believe she wanted to be recognized as equal. I can almost guarantee this phenomenon occurred very early in her life. She has told me stories of, "when she was growing up women were expected to take care of their husbands no matter what". This could almost be seen as a very old-school traditional sense of church. Focusing on social construction I wondered at what age we started to identify gender roles. I think this video clip does a great job showing this with very basic examples. Watch the 2:36 clip below.
The clip shows us that at 2 years of age children can identify themselves as male or female with certainty. At ages 4 or 5 they have gender constancy which means they have standards for what is appropriate for each gender to do. We can see from statements like, "boys are better...they are stronger than girls" that the construction has clearly started. So I began to think about myself at around 4 or 5 and what I could identify with at this age. The very first thing I thought of was Disney movies. Surely these movies had to have some effect on me, but what could they have been? I found a very entertaining clip entitled How Classic Disney Movies Made an Entire Generation Suck. Before you watch I just want to say I still love my Disney classics!
Sorry Walt
Some excellent points are brought up inside this clip. Messages that could be interpreted differently include: In The Little Mermaid Ariel disobeys her parents and makes a deal with the "bad guy" all to try and get a man. In The Lion King how do you become king? To become king you must kill the king. This shows that power and violence are closely related. In Beauty and the Beast Belle is a prisoner and for the first whole act she is threatened and insulted. As said in the video this could (at some level) help construct someone who accepts an abusive (verbal or physical) relationship in hopes of change later. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame taught us that looks are important, and the Fox and the Hound taught us that on some level physical differences get in the way of relationships. The same way that I did not realize how I was being socialized to construct gender roles in the church I am sure lots of children and parents are unaware of the effects movies (and all media) have in our lives even at early ages.
Do you think that the content in children's movies and TV shows (in regards to creating gender roles) has improved, stayed the same, or changed for the worse? Do you have any examples supporting your answer? Did you think about any of the Disney movies differently when watching the Disney clip, and were there any "aha" moments that made you reflect/think (if so explain)? Lastly, I made an assumption about my grandmother having to compensate in order for her to feel "equal". Do you think this thought process could be true and common for some women, for most women? (at home, work, etc...)?
Caleb,
ReplyDeleteDid I send my response to this post via e-mail?
Also, I read your first blog and really wanted to see the Laugh (something) video but it was not available in your post -- would you send it to me again?
I am finding your posts, questions, and insights not only thoughtful but pushing your thinking, mine, and, I'm sure others. Way to go!
Hi Caleb!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, your blog post was really great! I enjoyed all of it and I could see a lot of my past experiences reflected in the ones you brought up.
Now, let's dive into the Communication aspect of this post: as I was reading along, I had to stop and think about the question you posted: "did my Grandmother (or any religious woman for that matter) feel as though she had to over-compensate due to the fact that she was a woman?" That statement REALLY made me think! I started to think about what we have been learning in class--how we are socialized into doing virtually everything we think is our choice or opinion. Do you think that perhaps it was a socialized habit for her? As a woman, she felt as though it was her DUTY to be the religious head in her family? It could be the exact opposite of what we were thinking, that she was over-compensating from the male dominance around her. It could actually be that there was a lot of FEMALE dominance in her life, socializing her into thinking that to truly be a good "woman," she had to be a leading force in her Christian faith... it's just a thought. Did you know your Great Grandma? Was she a very religious woman as well? In my family, this scenario is very true: my mom is very religious, as am I, and so was her mother, both of them being much more religious than their fathers, and my grandma being leaps and bounds more religious than her husband. Maybe it is that socialization that is the true force rather than the oppression from men.
Secondly, the tidbit about Disney made me think a lot--sadly (haha). I can totally see how you would read into those ideas: not being able to achieve any real recognition due to your looks, staying with an abusive man because he will be a prince one day, and so on. But here is my dilemma with all this: think of the age group that is avidly watching this. The 4-10 year olds (respectively) are probably watching these innocent movies and soaking in..... nothing. I can say from my personal experiences, I never ever ever once thought about the "true" meanings behind the Disney tales, not even at this age! I wholeheartedly believe that when we grow up and analyze the things we watched, it is easy to point fingers and say "Oh yes! That must have been what made me stay in that bad relationship: I learned it from Disney!" At such a young age, the movies are entertaining and topical: they don't go much deeper for someone with such a naive mind. Now, once again, this is just my personal opinion, and I think both of our views are totally valid, I just thought I would show you another side.
You definitely made me think over a lot that I never had before, so thanks for that, and keep up the good work! :)
-India Debe