Eclectic Parent

Saturday after D’s gymnastics pre-meet we went to the mall. He had a birthday party the next day and we were looking for a present. Walking by Frederick’s of Hollywood led to the question, “Why do stores have naked women by not naked men?” Great question. So we talked about how society sometimes seems women as decorative objects (a big concept in our house - from a young age they’ve always asked what things do and some things are just decoration). If men want to look good they put on nicer versions of their casual pants and shirts and shoes and are ready. But women are supposed to wear completely different clothes that their casual stuff: skirts or dresses, high heeled shoes, make up. We talked about how most of the stores in the mall sell women’s clothing. Women are expected to look better, care more, than men.

When I asked what words he thinks of when he thinks of boys, he said he didn’t understand. But as soon as I said, “Do you think boys are strong?” He piped in with, “Girls are weak.” As which point I had to clairfy if he was stating a belief or just figured out the dynamics of the sexusal dichotomy in our society. We talked about the girls he sees in gymnastics flipping through the air, obviously they’re strong. We discussed ideas of strength and intelligence and how some of societies stereotypes make no sense.

Then we brought up Cyndi Lauper’s song Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, something we’ve briefly talked about before Girls weren’t always allowed to have fun. Even today there are people that don’t let their girls play in the mud for instance.  With a brief mention of the fact that the reverse is also true, boys not allowed to cry or play dolls for instance, we wondered on to other subjects. I’m sure it’ll come up again . . . and again . . . and again. And like everything else important, it’s good to keep thinking your way through to your own position on things.