Young and Confused

Matthew Bullis And

  Michaela Beamon

Once upon time, there was Jim and his sister Jane. The 7 year-old siblings loved their toys, but longed to play with each other’s toys. Jim loves Jane's barbies and Jane loved Jim's hot wheels, but unfortunately, grew up where their roles were already created for them. So instead, Jane plays with her Barbies and Jim plays with his cars, instilling gender roles into their young minds…

Gender roles are often established at a very young age. Things like boys wearing blue and girls wearing pink are known social standards. Advertisements often set these standards because children see commercials for boys playing with male toys such as Hot Wheels and Power Rangers toys, while girls often get bright pink Hello Kitty accessories and play with Barbie dolls.

Advertisements, such as the Hot Wheels and Barbie commercials, know their  intended target audience and will try to entice children with their product by showing how much fun other children their age and gender are having with these toys. The main problem with this is that not all boys want to play with hot wheels and not all girls want to play with Barbie dolls. It can be very common for young children to want to play with toys deemed to be for the opposite gender roles and in order to play with these toys, kids might start acting like the opposite gender. Children playing with these toys and seeing kids of the opposite gender on tv playing with their same toys could be a reason why children might relate to  the opposite gender.

As Jim and Jane grow up, they realize the roles they were predestined for. As they age, they realize the stereotypes they were set in, in everyday things, even in the restaurants they eat in..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twzbDi3d_rA

Even a company such as McDonalds segregates its commercials. By showing boys with power ranger toys and girls with hello kitty accessories they are creating a social convention that one is for boys and the other is for girls. Most young children don’t understand what sex is and simply think that the boys and girls are defined on how they act and dress.

As children grow up, the line between what is for boys and what is for girls becomes less and less clear. Things like iPods are gender neutral and both boys and girls are featured in advertising for such products. The desires of teens to be older can have a strong impact on what they want to buy and purchase. Older kids see both genders of adults displayed together in commercials and this can help them understand that their genders are not what determines how they should behave or what they need to do.

Adults who already understand what their gender is don’t need to be told what they want. Instead they buy things they want. This allows for commercials for items such as video games, which can often be seen as something guys play, to use women in their commercials because there is not as strong of a need to define who a product is for.

Jane and Jim begin to question who they are and who they want to be, as they grow older and find themselves. Specifically, Jane believes she was destined to be a male, but Jim worries that Jane is too young to truly understand what she really wants...

Many kids who are trans or think they might be trans will go through hormone therapies intended to allow themselves to develop the same body shapes and features as somebody of the opposite sex. Hormone therapy is a life changing decision and teens/preteens may not fully understand who they are or what it means to be male/female. Lacking such vital knowledge could cause kids to make the wrong decision and end up harming them rather than giving them the bodies they thought they wanted. Puberty blocker are a way in which such a decision can be postponed until the child has a better idea of who they are and the decision they are making. The use of puberty blockers may not be necessary in every situation but they are a great way to buy time until the child has a better understanding of themselves and what their gender is.

From a young age, Jane and Jim were forced into a world of gender roles and stereotypes to follow. Beginning with their toys, they came into a world where gender was already defined, but growing up, began to question its reality. Does pink define Jane? Does blue define Jim? Who defines who they are?