Childhood Essay -- Gender Roles

The majority of people around the world would classify the age of childhood to be between the ages of zero to eighteen years. One’s childhood is based upon recollections and memories of what happened in one’s past. However, some individuals may recall their childhood, while others may vaguely recall their childhood and others may simply need assistance from a family member or friend to reinforce what happened in those years in order for them to remember. Comprehending our memory is important in making sense of our personal identity. Memory serves as a form of knowledge for us. It can contribute to understanding our childhood as it brings us into contact with past events. Our memory helps us recall events that occurred in the past even though, at times, our perception of the actual facts are somewhat inaccurate. What has been forgotten indicates that it might have been too painful or insignificant to recall. There is a resistance to not remember things that caus e us pain. Therefore memory is selective. In terms of gender roles they are defined by ideologies within society. Being an ethnographer, it can be argued that childhood can be studied and explored by separating male and females from each other. The attached photograph (Appendix A) emphasizes me as a child and illustrates what I enjoyed doing most of my infancy years and what I wanted to become. In terms of children’s popular culture, the study that I am conducting is essentially centered around children’s toys, which can be defined by gender preferences. By doing research my main focus of my methodology is primarily on memory work and, as I am aware, memory is flawed. Gender roles help identify childhood in terms of what society categorizes males vs. femal... ...res depict our identity in our early years. My identity was clearly defined by owning the doll as it made me feel in control, special and loved. Being able to care for something so precious and so small made me feel so important. In closing, childhood can be seen through various terms and implications. Numerous objects such as social variables, nostalgia, adult agendas, popular culture all influence the concept of gender roles and identities. These terms have great impact when defining theory of gender roles, especially when relating it to this photograph. Photographs taken together uncover a layer of meaning. Working with childhood memory is a project of recreating the past and yearning for that idealistic past and trying to fit it into the present day world. Working through our childhood toy memories is our desire to long for the perfect past.