Summary

Project Summary Results: Children are very impressionable! I started my project looking at how children’s own parents influence their gender. I found myself shifts towards how the medias portrayal of parents and gender influences children. I feel as though many families are not as “nuclear” as it seems. I think that the media culture wants us to believe that we need to have this perfect family function. Even in current media that is somewhat controversial there is still these gender norms that are being performed. In Modern Family we see two beautiful gay men in a family and even with a wonderful daughter. However just like when Will and Grace first started on TV there is STILL the typical gay guy stereotype. And as much as I love Modern Family I see the exact same issue with it. My project took a turn because as I was interviewing my three different kids at daycare I noticed how they always referenced different media outlets. For example when I asked Grant what he wanted to be when we grew up he told me a ninja and to have a car like Lighting McQueen. When I asked him if his mom liked ninjas and Lighting McQueen he said no “Moms do not watch ninjas” (Interview April 2nd 2012). When I asked Landon the same question he said he also wanted to be a ninja I asked if his mom liked ninjas and his response was that “My dad is the ninja master” (Interview April 6th 2012). I found this to be interesting in that we can see that Landon’s father is probably more proactive in interacting with his son and what Landon wants to do. I think that Landon has an interesting look on his gender; he never lets girls play with him when he is playing ninjas or power rangers. However whenever it is just me and him at night he lets me play ninjas with him. I wonder if it is because he sees me as more of a “motherly” type of figure instead of just another “girl”. Another child that I interviewed and observed was Rainy. Rainy is one of the two children I interviewed whose parents are still together. Rainy was very interesting, she loved being a “tom boy”. She plays with cars and almost never do I see her playing with baby dolls. However Rainy dresses in complete “girly” outfits. She wears dresses, skirts, and these inch platform shoes (which her mother absolutely hates, but lets her wear whatever she wants). When I asked rainy what she wanted to be when she grows up she said she wanted to be a vet “just like mom” (Interview April 2nd 2012). While at daycare we watch a movie every night at 6pm each night a different child gets to pick a movie. Rainy will always pick Toy Story 2. Landon will pick Power Rangers. Grant will pick Cars 2, Shrek, or Power Rangers. Obviously these behaviors are learned. I asked Rainy why she likes Toy Story 2 so much and she just kept saying Jessie and cowgirls. I did not need to ask Landon because I could observe him pretending to be a Power Ranger. He would stand in front of the TV and act out every scene. I asked Grant why he liked Cars and he said because “it is like Dads cars”. I think that parents are very influential to a child’s gender and so in the media. More importantly how parents let their children interpret the media. If a child is convinced that all the Power Rangers are boys they assume that only boys can be kicking butt. If there is a girl power ranger she is in an obvious pink uniform and a skirt. Landon (obsessed with Power Rangers) explains that girls have to wear skirts to be able to kick butt. (Interview April 6th 2012). I think if Landons dad talked with him on how it does matter what girls wear, they can still kick butt I bet that he would be more excepting towards girls playing with him. I looked at the nuclear family and patriarchy which I did still find in my research. Landon and Grant both had an arrogance about them because they could be ninjas and power rangers and girls could not. I asked my best friend if her parents ever talked to her about the television shows she watched and she said no. I think that the media needs to be talked about at an earlier age and addressed. What I learned: I kept thinking about my future family. I kept thinking about myself also. How I have grown up watching nuclear families on television my whole life. I think that even though I did not grow up with my mom only cooking and cleaning (my parents pretty much shared responsibilities), I still saw it constantly on television and in our culture. So even though I saw my father cleaning and cooking, I also was Hollywood telling me that that is not normal. I think that if my parents discussed these types of norms with me maybe my perspective would be a little different. But as a parent how do you know you need to talk to your children.

Creative Project

Application Concept

Kari Ryan
Comm 380
1 April 2012
Concept Application
According to our text book “Parents provide a model for children’s gendered identities because children are closest to parents physically and emotionally and for a longer period of time” (DeFrancisco & Palczewski 2007). Ones parents play a huge role in how one indentifies with her/his gender. The concept that I we will be looking into more is that of the nuclear family. Through the multiple interviews and observations of families I have decided to compare how my parents generation was raised and taught to believe compared to how my generation was raised and taught to believe.
The nuclear family is what one can think of as the “perfect” family. The ideal portrait that many families feel they need to be based off of. The nuclear family is composed of two parents and biological children. To make this clearer one can think of the classic television show Leave It To Beaver. This is the ideal nuclear family where the man is the obvious bread winner and the wife cooks that bread. Though the family of one female one male parents and those fully biological family is not that common in this day and age, however the ideals of this “perfect” “happy” family still lives on. According to the website buzz.com there are three different types of nuclear families. The first one is what the original definition explains the father working outside the home and the mother staying home, 28% of families fit this model. The second one is where the mother works outside the home and dad stays home taking care of the children, only 2 % of families are seen in this module. The third type is where both parents work outside of the household, 60% of families fall into this category (buzz.com 2010).
The ideals of what the nuclear family stands for are simply passed down to the children. Children are very observant. The fact that many mothers are the main ones who cook and clean make it seem as if women are supposed to be the homemakers. It is also seen that as a dad one is supposed to be the “man of the household”. He is supposed to be looked up to, he is the ultimate “manly man”. He has all of these people around him that he controls (or least to maybe a young child it seems like). Many girls when they are little play like what they see their mothers and fathers doing, so they play kitchen and mom. I work at a daycare and it is interesting to see how the boys play with the dolls and kitchen sets. The boys who come from families where both the mom and dad work are seen to be playing with the kitchen sets and taking care of the baby dolls like it is a normal action. However I have observed the girls whose mothers stay home not liking the boys playing with them and their dolls. Though just an assumption, I can not help but wonder if these little girls do not want the boys playing with them because their own fathers do not help at their own households. At the daycare I work at we have many children that come from foster families. One of our group of kids (3 of them) are all foster kids in one household, this household is the type one nuclear family. They are all boys and they get very upset when the girls try to play basketball or two square with them. I can not help but wonder if it is because they see women as more of a domestic type not a sporty type. Children are very observant and naïve. When they are little what they see and hear they believe, so when they see just their mom cooking and cleaning they assume that is a women place. These simple acts need to stop in order for the next generation of adults to understand stereotypes of families.
Works Cited

C, Jay. "The Nuclear Family." Buzzle. N.p., 23 June 2004. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. .
DeFrancisco, Victoria L., and Catherine Helen Palczewski. Communicating gender diversity: a critical approach. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2007. Print