| Subject: Re: Assignment 5 |
Author:
Alicia Scott
|
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Date Posted: 17:57:56 07/06/10 Tue
In reply to:
Jessika Morris
's message, "Re: Assignment 5" on 17:26:24 07/06/10 Tue
>My parents modeled very nontraditional gender roles,
>which may have been a product of my being raised in
>San Francisco, California, my mom's Native American
>background and my dad's background in Portugal, being
>female and being the oldest child, and the fact that
>my dad's mom died when he was in high school. Being
>raised in San Fran, there are very progressive views
>of gender, gender roles, and sexuality in that city -
>I learned very early in school that many kids have two
>daddies, two mommies, or other combinations of
>parents. My parents had many friends that fell into
>these categories, and they've never been people who
>think totally inside the box. Also, my mom was raised
>partially in Native American culture, where poverty
>was rampant and everyone had to work hard and
>contribute in whatever capacity possible. My dad
>spent part of his childhood in Portugal, where he had
>an ill mother and was the oldest of three children.
>When his mother died, he took over many of the
>motherly responsibilities towards his siblings as his
>dad often was not present in the home due to having to
>work multiple jobs to pay bills. Being the oldest
>child, I think my dad expected myself to play as big a
>role in the family structure as he had once had to do
>himself, so there were expectations that I would
>perform both traditionally male and traditionally
>female roles. When I was in grade school, my mother
>broke her neck and spent the next ten to twelve years
>enduring various surgeries that left her incapacitated
>for long periods of times - so I observed my dad
>performing all kinds of roles from an early age. The
>main message I got from my parents about gender is
>that gender roles are subject to necessity - need
>takes precedence over comfort level or gender
>preference (which makes sense given their early
>experiences and culture). Here is my list of roles
>delineations (D for Dad, M for M, B for both):
>
>Female Responsiblities:
>Cooking (D)
>Cleaning (D)
>Getting Children ready for bed/school (D)
>Decorating (B)
>Shopping (D)
>Laundry (D)
>
>Male Responsibilities:
>Pay Bills (M)
>Yard Work (D)
>Work (D)
>Fix things (D)
>Take care of animals (B)
>
>In my own home, I primarily do yard work, clean, and
>take care of animals, whereas my fiance cooks, fixes
>things, and does the shopping. Again a function of
>necessity - I work full time and am a graduate
>student, he just works normal daytime hours and does
>things around the house.
I agree with your statement that necessity prevails in terms of gender roles in certain households. Like I stated in my post, there were only girls in my family besides my dad. If he didn't love yard work as much as he did, I know that he would have made my sister and I pitch in to help regardless of our gender. I can also see how this would be true for single parents or those that live outside the suburbs. If only one parent is around, those gender roles are going to be different because they have to be in order to get the chores done. As with those in rural areas yard work, or working outside on the farm, might not be an option that is only deligated to males. I definitely see your point!
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