Drive-by 'thoughts to think' post
May. 21st, 2011 04:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lokapalaWhile searching for something I don't remember now, I've stumbled upon this video (it's about gender presentation in toy advertising), which reminded me of a question I had for some time.
So. Let's suppose that there are children who see those ads and think 'If I=(fe)male, then I (should) like glitter and baking/trucks and adventure'. On the other hand I am pretty certain (as certain as one can be about one's self-knowledge, heh) that there are children who see these ads and think 'If I like baking/trucks, then I=(fe)male' (or 'then I should be (fe)male'). This is all very simplistic, obviously, but. But. Why? How? We learn very early whatgender sex we are. I certainly knew I had a vagina when I thought I might be a boy since I like pirates and adventure. What determines which way inner reasoning goes, from actual sex to a gendered idea of preferences or from actual preferences to gender identity? Again, simplistic, but there must be some processes that govern this thing. What are they and how they function, inquiring minds want to know.
And now to the portion of the program where I go about my day and forget to research this stuff for months.
So. Let's suppose that there are children who see those ads and think 'If I=(fe)male, then I (should) like glitter and baking/trucks and adventure'. On the other hand I am pretty certain (as certain as one can be about one's self-knowledge, heh) that there are children who see these ads and think 'If I like baking/trucks, then I=(fe)male' (or 'then I should be (fe)male'). This is all very simplistic, obviously, but. But. Why? How? We learn very early what
And now to the portion of the program where I go about my day and forget to research this stuff for months.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-21 01:15 pm (UTC)Welcome to my corner of the internet. Come, sit in the big chair (not that one, that one's mine) and have some tea with me, because I LOVE talking about this kind of thing.
It's something that plays MASSIVELY on my brain in the community where I do most of my work. You ask a lot of excellent questions, and I C WUT YOU DID THAR!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-23 07:14 pm (UTC)What is it that you work with? Do you know where one should go digging to see what we know about this stuff? (apart from fucking with google for hours, obvs :D)
no subject
Date: 2011-05-23 09:32 pm (UTC)My friend meloukhia, aka s.e.smith (always lower case like that) has a great blog where ou (preferred pronoun) writes about gender identity often. I would recommend that as a good place to start.
meloukhia.net
I usually write in the social justice (feminist, though I do not specifically identify as such anymore) blogosphere. My field is disability rights, race, pop-culture analysis, and women in the military, for starters. It's a really intimidating place, and I get burned out easily and retreat to the world of fiction and my DW.
If you ever want to chit chat, let me know!
xoxo
no subject
Date: 2011-05-24 10:14 pm (UTC)