Can you remember the first time you “performed” your gender? Maybe this was the first time you played with make-up after watching mom in the bathroom, or maybe it was the first time you baked cookies with your mom and your grandma while the boys watched a game. Do you remember? Notice how these examples are taken from your childhood memories? That is because we learn how to perform our gender from a young age. Gender is not biological. Sex is. Gender is a performance that we learn as we are socialized growing up. We learn from observing our parents, siblings, extended family, community, and media. We understand what “girls do” and what “boys do”. These rules we learn to live by seem natural. As if they are simply “the way it’s supposed to be”. Truth is, that’s not true. Gender is something we learn how to perform. That is also why it can feel like SO MUCH WORK. Especially if you’re a woman. Right, ladies? The fact of the matter is, these “rules” we know so well are harmful to the development of girls and boys in a few ways. Emotionally From a very early age,…
You Do This Every Day
Can you remember the first time you “performed” your gender? Maybe this was the first time you played with make-up after watching mom in the bathroom, or maybe it was the first time you baked cookies with your mom and your grandma while the boys watched a game. Do you remember? Notice how these examples are taken from your childhood memories? That is because we learn how to perform our gender from a young age. Gender is not biological. Sex is. Gender is a performance that we learn as we are socialized growing up. We learn from observing our parents, siblings, extended family, community, and media. We understand what “girls do” and what “boys do”. These rules we learn to live by seem natural. As if they are simply “the way it’s supposed to be”. Truth is, that’s not true. Gender is something we learn how to perform. That is also why it can feel like SO MUCH WORK. Especially if you’re a woman. Right, ladies? The fact of the matter is, these “rules” we know so well are harmful to the development of girls and boys in a few ways. Emotionally From a very early age,…