Interviewing Important People in My Life

I have found myself growing up ignorant to many of the problems in the society we live in. I have grown up in a family that believes that how everyone functions is based upon tradition and core values, and while interviewing them, they answered accordingly. The common question that I asked went along the lines of, "Do you believe that there are girls' and boys' toys? And what's the difference?" My questions were all different but there was one underlining similarity among everyone I asked. They did not truly know why there was a separation between the two types of toys. They just knew that they played with the toys that their gender was "known" for playing with.

So, how are gender-related toys relevant to the topic of how early childhood education affects gender stereotypes and later-on sexism? A study by NAEYC by Professor Judith Elaine Blackmore said, "If you want to develop children's physical, cognitive, academic, musical, and artistic skills, toys that are not strongly gender-typed are more likely to do this." Everyone that I interviewed said that gender-typed toys do exist and are used by so many today. Melissa Perello, a sophomore at duPont Manual High School, described gender stereotyped toys as just being the "norm." She then proceeded to say that she conformed to these stereotypes as a child, unknowingly.

After asking Melissa, I decided to get a different and older viewpoint. I called my grandparents to ask them the same question about their beliefs regarding "girls'" and "boys'" toys. My grandmother, Becky Redding, gave a long pause before giving her answer, almost taken aback by the question. She first gave specific examples of what she found to be an example of gender-typed toys. She said that when she was younger, girls played with dolls and doll-houses, while boys played with trains and toys with wheels. She didn't know why this was true and didn't know the reason behind it, like many others today. My grandfather, Steve Redding, said the same thing. He had specific reasoning for his answer because he said when he was a kid, women didn't have the jobs that they have today. He continued to say that women were expected to stay and work at the house so naturally they played with toys that reflected that.

We are a conforming society and often don't have reasoning to back up our actions just like how the people I interviewed didn't know why they played with the stereotyped toys. They "just did."

Source:

 "What the Research Says: Gender-Typed Toys | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC." What the Research Says: Gender-Typed Toys | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC. National Association for the Education of Young Children, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2016.