My Princess Boy Analysis

Throughout I am Princess X there are four major sections that you go through: The introduction of the characters and the discovery of the webcomic, the discovery of the first key and the truth about the Needle Man’s daughter, the discovery of the second key and the identity of who the Needle Man is in the real world, and the finding of the third and fourth key. The fourth key being the final piece to the puzzle: Libby Deaton.

Gender coding is not a natural or biological characteristic. People are born with different physical and biological characteristics, but make sense of their gender roles through cultural influences. “Stereotypes are amazingly powerful, and we may not realize the degree to which our thoughts, beliefs, and actions are shaped by them” (Silverman, Rader, 2010). Boys and girls are labeled as masculine or feminine, which is considered the “norm” for society. Children are not born masculine or feminine, they learn these roles from parents, peers, media, and even religion. Concepts of gender identity are sometimes placed on children even before their birth, such as with the selection of paint colors for the nursery.” Children begin to form concepts of gender beginning around the age of 2, and most children know if they are a boy or girl by age of 3” (Martin & Ruble, 2004). From an early age, children are encouraged to identify with gender coding. Gender is formed at birth, but self-identification as being male or female is imbedded into their minds by parents and society. A child learns to understand their gender role and their identity by what is taught and expressed to them by others. Yet as a child grows, gender coding can cause cultural confusion, and insecurity issues throughout the course of their life.

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.

This article, “No Way My Boys Are Going To Be Like That,” converses that young children are becoming aware of gender processing, which means

Little girls are seen as the opposite of boys. They want to be involved in things their mothers do. Some enjoy playing with dolls, or makeup. Since they are “feminine”, girls are believed to wear dresses. They are drawn to princesses instead of superheroes, because the qualities of princesses include beauty, grace, and kindness.

Because of Disney’s stereotyping of gender, that little girl grew up wanting to become a perfect princess. Princesses in Disney’s movies and films gives young girls unrealistic ideas of the real word. However, some may believe that Disney princesses are a good influence on young girls and are able to show a them how to act eloquently. Gender roles, eloquence, and the beauty of the princesses are all topics that influence young girls. Even though some might believe that princesses are good role models for their child, princesses show young girls how they should interact around boys and other girls never mind the girls own opinions. An article about Children’s Responses to Gender Roles in Fairy-Tales written by Ella Westland writes, “The girls

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

Disney makes over $3 billion on their Disney Princess products every year and now have over 25,000 items in their princess collection (Orenstein 2). Disney has played a big role in shaping not only societal viewpoints on what young girls should like, but also what little girls believe they should enjoy as well. Gender stereotypes have been around for a long time, but now with technology advancements, such as media in western society is able to play a bigger than ever role in influencing people’s perspectives. Not only do we see gender roles and stereotypes in television shows, but also in advertisements and in children’s toys. Although many readers of Peggy Orenstein’s “What’s wrong with Cinderella” have argued that the princess culture is corrupting today’s young girls and making them more dependent on men, a closer examination shows that many girls grow out of the princess phase with no negative repercussions and choose whatever passions they want.

James Baldwin once said, “Everybody 's journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality. ” From the moment babies are born, most parents treat boys and girls differently. One study says that parents have different expectations for boys and girls as early as 24 hours from birth, according to Susan D. Witt of the University of Akron. According to healthychildren.org, infants become aware of their sex within in the first year of life. Between ages 1 and 2, children begin to notice the physical differences between males and females, and typically by their third birthday they are able to easily identify themselves as a boy or a girl. People are faced with many obstacles that alter their life. Just like the many controversies in society, “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin discusses a young man being gay in a society and a family who are simply not ready to accept his sexual orientation and neither does he. This fiction also emphasizes the battle that he faces with self-acceptance. Gender identity and American norms in society is widely discussed almost every day. Americans are becoming more open and accepting of the LGBT community, as well as against the LGBT community.

“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

These individuals would most likely point to page 17 where the teacher looked at is a female. Even though it is the little boy who looks up to the female teacher and says, “A teacher’s something I could be” (Berenstain), obviously this story puts women into a role to be the caretakers of children. Also, football boys and dancing girls only shows yet another masculine and feminine role which this story does not dare cross or object to. Instead, they further perpetrate this idea of everyone having their “place” based on their gender. This children’s book, aimed at 4 year olds, is clearly sexist and furthering that message into the youth’s

Growing up is a naturally occurring life process that a young boy cannot avoid, and while growing up the pressures of growing into the expectations already set for them can be a lot. In “Me Talk Pretty One Day” David Sedaris states that when boys involve themselves in feminine related activities they don’t please the masculine idea that is set for them. This same idea is represented in the documentary “Raising Cain” where young boys are pressured with the idea of being more of a masculine character than a feminine character. In both of these texts, they put on view the troubles young boys have while growing up to fit into the masculine form already molded for them.

Authors James Poniewozik and Peggy Orenstein are both concerned with the increase of princess culture among young girls. Poniewozik’s article “The Princess Paradox” and Orenstein's article “Cinderella and Princess Culture” discuss similar aspects of princess culture that could be potentially harmful to it’s audience. Both Poniewozik and Orenstein take on a feminist perspective in their articles. Specifically, both authors discuss feminist themes in princess culture but Orenstein focuses on toddler to pre-teen aged girls while Poniewozik is more concerned with specifically teenagers.

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.

Children learn at a very early age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society. As children grow and develop, the gender stereotypes they are exposed to at home are reinforced by many elements in their environment and are thus perpetuated throughout childhood followed by adolescence. One major societal issue uprising with the way children are raised in today’s society is the gender specific dressing for boys and girls. The history with gender specific dressing is a one sided masculine enforced point of view for centuries. As children move through childhood and into adolescence, they are exposed to many factors which influence their behaviors and attitudes regarding gender roles. It is difficult for a child in today’s society to grow to adulthood without experiencing some form of gender bias or stereotyping. The question lies whether the view of gender specific dressing shall change or stay the same. As society continues to evolve and grow so does the tolerance of new uprising views for the general purpose of equality and freedom to do as pleased. Children regularly learn to adopt gender roles which are not always fair to both sexes. These attitudes and behaviors are generally learned first in the home but then reinforced by their environment, school experience, and media viewing. Nonetheless, the strongest influence on gender role development seems to occur within the family setting. Culture, values, and beliefs are the parents early role for passing on, both overtly