Gender Norms In My Princess Boy

I chose to analyze the movie “The Princess and the Frog” since I knew how sexist Disney princess movies in the past, such as Cinderella and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, have been, but also the interesting twists that try to hide sexism in the more modern tales. “The Princess and The Frog” really is a classic Disney love story. Tiana is a woman in New Orleans who dreams of one day running her own popular restaurant along the Mississippi River. Prince Naveen travels to New Orleans with the sole purpose of marrying a rich woman to reclaim his part of his family's fortune. His greed is his downfall when he seeks the services of Dr. Facilier, a voodoo man who turns him into a frog and turns his servant, Lawrence, into the prince. In a chance meeting at a masquerade ball, Tiana and frog Naveen meet. Naveen promises to pay for Tiana's restaurant if she would kiss him to turn him back into a human. Tiana relents, kisses him, and then is also turned into a frog. It is a race against time for them to find a way to turn themselves back into humans.

Upon reading the book “Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture”, by Peggy Orenstein, I was extremely captivated to absorb the opinions that she had on raising a girl and all of the feminine influences that naturally surround her. The author herself had stated right from the first page how she initially wished for the child in her womb was a boy. My preliminary notion that joined this book to the course material was assumed before I even began reading, as several obvious details it became apparent that the book for sure had to be about gender roles and gender identity. The whole topic of princesses in the title, as well as the way the books cover flaunted pink and shimmery glitter it was just a telltale sign to have gender specific ties. That impression continued as I began reading the very first chapter boldly titled “Why I Hoped for a Boy”. There were such forthright examples making it overly apparent that she, the author, would be discussing the sexes, meaning girls vs.

Children learn as early as age two what it means to be a “boy” or a “girl” (Aina & Cameron). This is described as gender identity, a person’s sense of self as male or female. Gender stereotyping emerges hand in hand with the development of gender identity in Early Childhood (Halim). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. When babies are born they are either put in pink or blue, as they grow up they still maintain the same “gender” colors. As young children start to socialize, they are playing with either “girl” toys or “boy” toys. When they get older they

Gender transitions, cross dressing, and homosexual marriage are all unequivocally important social movements starting to gain recognition. Although gender transitions and homosexuality, along with other various LBGQT movement have been around for a while; social acceptance and safety for these various individuals is just beginning to occur. Merritt Kopas is able to confront and tackle this in her twine game, “Conversations with My Mother” by imparting a story about a mother’s letter to her child, using pathos to persuade the reader, and using strong visuals to tie the story together.

Gender socialization takes place in our everyday lives whether we subconsciously know it or not. Gender socialization is the socially learned expectations and behaviors associated with members of each gender. For example, If I were to say it takes my friend at least 45 minutes to do their hair before school everyday, you would assume I am speaking about a friend who is a female as opposed to a friend who is male. This is because of the idea of gender socialization.

“My Princess Boy” by Cheryl Kilodavis, teaches kids that it is ok to be yourself. My Princess Boy is about a boy who expresses himself by dressing up in dresses, and enjoying girl items such as jewelry and anything pink or sparkly. The book is in the mom's point of view, sharing observations and experiences with friends and family, at school and in a shopping store. The boy’s friends and family help him to be himself . My Princess Boy teaches readers how to accept young boys who might cross traditional gender clothing expectations. The book ends with the understanding that we can accept and support anyone for whoever they are and however they wish to look or

The way, in which gender roles are portrayed in children’s literature, significantly contributes to the development of children’s gender roles and how they are perceived by society.

A study was preformed by Emily W. Kane, focusing on the responses of parents toward their preschooler’s gender non-conformity. The studies concluded that girls were more likely to be praised for non-conforming to their gender, to act more like boys at their age, but young boys were more policed on staying within their gender. Most Parents tried to discourage their sons from feminine clothing’s, toys, or activities; “He’s asked about wearing girl clothes before, and I said no. . . . He likes pink, and I try not to encourage him to like pink just because, you know, he’s not a girl” one mother stated (Kane). Fathers in particular seemed to be even more negative about their sons displaying femininity, as Kane states that fathers may “ feel a since of responsibility towards crafting their sons masculinity” (Kane). In one video centered around the opposition of James, a pastor brought up

According to an analysis done by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, for every ten U.S. google search requests about males being overweight, there are seventeen searches about girls being overweight, but in reality, boys are nine percent more probable to being overweight than girls (Gonchar). There are countless kinds of gender double standards in society, including the standards parents hold their children to. It is no secret that parents dream for their daughters to be attractive and their sons to be athletic. How else do these standards become apparent in a child’s upbringing? In an investigative paper, The Gender Double Standards in Parenting Attitudes, Meeso Caponi Ro, William G. Axinn, and Linda Young-DeMarco state, “We differentiate dating, sex, and premarital cohabitation from marital and childbearing behavior to investigate differences within the courtship and family formation domain.” (Axinn). There are different standards for boys and girls when it comes down to relationships and sex as well. Parents tend to be more lenient when it comes to their boy’s romantic relationships and stricter with their daughters. “A new study from Netmums reveals that 88 per cent of mums admitted that they treated their sons and daughters differently despite thinking that this was wrong.” (The Gender). Parents don’t want to admit they treat their kids differently, because then issues of favoritism or unfair treatment can occur, but by human

There are million reason to accept the people as they are. Reading this book, the boy does not go with stereotypical boy flow and open up about understanding and accepting difference. The boy who love to like pink or love to wear princess dress that might be or might not grow up to be gay. And that child might be labeled with gender confusion or gender identity disorder or other unprintable name. This book has hugely important in expanding the national conversation about diverse gender expression.

The representation of sex and sexuality is an issue that occurs repeatedly in children’s and young adult literature, often being challenged by adults for unsuitable content. Maurice Sendak’s In The Night Kitchen, Francesca Lia Block’s Weetzie Bat, and Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki’s This One Summer are all pieces of literature that have been challenged because of the way that sex has been represented. For Sendak’s children’s book, Mickey is shown with full frontal nudity.

In our society, there are norms of what is considered to be feminine and what is to be considered masculine, but how are these norms constructed? Through the use of toys, books, and clothing, children are socialized into their “appropriate” gender. These objects provide influence over behavior and appearance, showing boys and girls what is appropriate for each gender. After some investigation it was found that the toys, books, and clothing that children use not only foster the norms of gender behavior and appearance, but also construct gender roles in their young minds.

The article “We haven’t come that far after all” written by Diane Francis and story “Boys and Girls” written by Alice Munro. In the article “We haven’t come that far after all” is about society should protest woman and story “Boys and Girls” is about writer against her family on gender stereotype. Although they both talk about gender stereotype on female, in “We haven’t come that far after all”, gender stereotype is from public; In “Boys and Girls”, gender stereotype is from Alice’s family.

What are “kid” shows really teaching your kids? What is your child taking in when they watch these shows? Have these shows affected the behavior or the mindset of your child? Shows like Sesame Street and Barney can really help and teach your kids many things. They can learn how to count and read and even do math.

The challenges ranged from the age appropriateness of the book, to the authors attempting to sway readers into a certain lifestyle. One of the authors, Peter Parnell stated that “...whole fear element of people that think exposing a child to the fact of being gay, what it means...that by their learning about being gay, they will themselves become gay. It comes from a fear that triggers a lot of reaction in some people” (Young 37). The controversy with picture books that discuss sexual orientation has been in the media since the 90’s and still going strong today. Social concerns change from generation to generation, however some concerns remain for multiple