comm iii presentation

Gender Communication in Social Institutions: Ch. 7 Family

By: Tiffany CurrierMonday, April 28, 2014

The importance of talk about gender and sexuality

within the family

At the end of this chapter, it lists suggestions that could help families try and bend gender roles or ideas into a more gender

neutral way to avoid stereotypes:

Parents contribute to all chores, cooking, cleaning, repairing, etc. Despite sex of parent.

Allowing children to play sports, despite sex of child.

Buying gender neutral toys.

Monday, April 28, 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9028479/Couple-raise-child-as-gender-neutral-to-avoid-

stereotyping.htmlfull interview with Beck Laxton, and her story about

raising her child Sasha as gender neutral.

Beck Laxton: "Stereotypes seem fundamentally stupid. Why would you want to slot people into

boxes?”Monday, April 28, 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9028479/Couple-raise-child-as-gender-neutral-to-avoid-stereotyping.html






Our text, in this chapter asks me a couple of questions regarding Sasha and his

gender, and sexual identity. The text asks “why is gender-neutral parenting receiving so much feedback? How do you react to

the photo of Sasha? Do you have an overwhelming need to know Sasha’s sex?

Why?” (pg. 142).

I will answer these questions for you:


why is gender-neutral parenting receiving so much feedback?

Beck Laxton, “"I discovered later that I'd been described as 'that loony woman who doesn't know whether her baby is a boy or a girl', she said.

"And I could never persuade anyone in the group to come around for coffee. They just thought I was mental.”

There is so much feedback because for people who are set in their ways- meaning that they never even consider

raising a child gender neutral, or think of gender stereotypes as a bad thing, have a very hard time

accepting, or understanding families that do choose to raise their children as gender neutral. It is confusing

because they don’t know what to call them, they think it may be harmful for the child.


How do you react to the photo of Sasha?

My first glance at the image of the child, I didn’t think “oh a little boy” or “oh a little girl” . That is only

because I have been researching and studying and becoming less ignorant towards these lifestyles. But before all that, I would have taken a second glance at the child to determine the sex of the child so I can

then connect what I know is a boy, and what is a girl.


Do you have an overwhelming need to know Sasha’s sex? Why?

Before reading the story? No. But as I read the interview, I became interested. Although I know they chose to raise

Sasha as gender-neutral. I couldn’t help by wonder what is the sex? Every person is either male or female biologically. I

work with a parent who raises their child as gender-neutral. I have had to practice in my mind before speaking with her to

refer to her child as gender neutral and by not calling her child by him, he or she. But by referring to them as they. I had to practice this in my mind because I am so used to calling to other people’s children by their sex, and not by

their gender identity.


Friendship

Cross-sex friends

I ask myself, why is having cross-sex friends at a younger age easier than having cross-sex friends later in life?


Dawson’s Creek. Cross-sex and same sex friendship and

relationships.


Meet the friends

Dawson Leery Joey Potter Jen Lindley

Pacey WitterJack McPhee


Joey and Dawson:

Joey and Dawson have been friends since they were very little. They slept over each other’s house and even slept in the same bed. They played together. It didn’t matter

because they were innocent children. When Joey and Dawson reached

the age of puberty, things changed between their innocent, cross-sex friendship. They started to have feelings for one another. Intimate feelings of love, and lust.


The relationship between Joey and Dawson as the television series goes on, they go from innocent, to mature. They develop their relationships both identifying as male and female in love with one

another. Best friends since childhood.

Joey had romantic feelings first, Dawson followed a short time after and the story from there, involves an on and off romantic and friendship relationship

between them.


Jen and Joey

Same sex friendship between Jen and Joey. Jen comes into

the picture, sweeping innocent Dawson off his feet. Jen and

Dawson have a romantic relationship. Mean while Joey

has romantic feelings for Dawson. This creates tension

between Jen and Joey.

Jen and Joey are friends. But Dawson always come between the two girls, and

hinders their relationship.


Jen and Jack

Jen and Jack’s cross-sex relationship:Jack is openly gay. Jen has daddy issues and does not trust men. Other than Jack. Jack

identifies himself as a male. But participates in manly identifiable traits like Football, fraternities etc. This very detail about Jack, appears when

Jack dates another man, and in their first meetings, this other guy has a problem with

how Jack lives ‘gay’ by not acting gay. Jack proves that gay isn’t a particular way of life. One can play football, get good grades, live in a frat house and be openly gay just as much as

a gay person who does not participate in gender specific Idealoligies.

Dawson’s Creek is a television series that demonstrate teenage angst, along with struggling

with identity, and maturity, and modern day culture of the 90s and early 2000s. The

television demonstrate what the text talks about in this chapter about pressure on dating, marriage and heterosexual relationships. (pg.

145-149).


Gender roles within the family: Mother Father

Daughter Son

It takes a man and a women biologically to conceive a baby. That baby will either be a male or female. (biologically) As the

child grows, they will take part of the family and be held responsible for

household duties, and participation asa family member. fulfilling their role as the

child. Monday, April 28, 2014

Lets take those four roles into perspective: We know what culturally, the ideology of being a women is, being a man,

essentially the roles for both male and female.

If we take those ideology of gendered roles in the family, and switch the roles around, would the family still function?

The text talks about fatherhood and the engagement of being a father.

“The norm has been for fathers to play more emotionally distant, wage-earning roles, then

an alternative is for fathers to play more interpersonally active, emotionally engaged roles in the day-to-day care taking of their children and other family members“ ( 159).

“the reality is that many men are primary caregivers” (159).


Growing up, I never really had a mother. I mean I did, she lives in my house, she is my

parent. But as far as gender roles the ideology of a mother, she had been absent

due to illness. My father on the other hand, had to play the role of both my father, and my mother. Although my

mother played the emotional part, my father was my core care taker, and

provider growing up.

As unfortunate as our situation was, our family still functioned in healthy ways, and still remained connected, and close knit like I would expect my family to be. It would have been the same if it were my mother taking part as both roles instead of my father. Regardless, it doesn’t matter of their sexual orientation, or even gender roles within our family. Our family would have functioned either way. This applies to same sex parents as well. This chapter discusses the same sex parenting as well as cross sex

parenting, and both situations seem to function.


comm iii presentation

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