This is my dog Lacey! As you can tell from the pink collar, she is female dog. Something as simple as the color of her collar makes people assume/know her gender right away. When deciding what collar I should get for her, the store really had two options. I could either get a blue, red, or green color, or I could get a pink/purple color. Since I knew Lacey was a girl, I automatically went for the pink color. By doing this, I chose to “do gender” with my dog.
Doing Gender while Pregnant – Blue or Pink?
About 19 weeks into Pregnancy, my step moms belly is starting to grow! Not only by “gender” but by her natural sex she is able to carry a baby. But by just looking at her stomach, you cannot tell what gender the baby is. The only reason we now know the gender is because of her gender reveal. Like most gender reveals she had two colors to determine the gender of the baby- blue and pink. Now I ate my cupcake way too fast to get a picture of the blue or pink icing in the inside, but she was “doing gender” by using pink icing to show she was having a little girl.
Doing Gender with Boyfriend Part I
Once again, the colors blue and pink usually determine boy from girl. Most people would assume that my boyfriend uses the blue loofah and that I use the pink loofah. But I claimed the blue one (blue is my favorite color) leaving my boyfriend to use the pink one. Something as simple as using loofahs is “doing gender”, and we are not doing the norm gender by using the opposite colors.
Doing Gender with Boyfriend Part II
Once again, color is playing a role in doing gender. Most of my stuff is light colored, and pink, and a couple of things my boyfriend has at my place is black. The people that made these have the packaging different so people can tell if its more feminine or masculine. Even the smells of our perfumes are different. The ones that are”made” more for females have a flowery and vanilla scent while the ones that are “made” more for men are a more masculine scent.
Doing Gender with Nail Color
By my friend choosing to paint her nails pink and glittery she was “doing gender”. My friend has always been very feminine. She loves to do her makeup, dress up cute, and loves having her nails done, especially in this hot pink color-and there is nothing wrong with it! While she loves to do those things, she is still able to go many days without makeup and without dressing up and being perfectly comfortable with herself, which is awesome. She chooses to “do gender”, because that is what she likes to do.
3 thoughts on ““Doing Gender” – In Everyday Life”
You’re analysis brings up some good points! It points out a lot of gendered aspects of our every day lives that most people don’t even think about twice. It is interesting to think about how some of these things got to be gendered. Like how was it decided that pink is feminine and that blue is masculine? How was it decided that flowers are feminine and more fresh scents are masculine? Humans have even forced their socially constructed gender onto their pets.
My favorite example was the photo with the pregnant woman. I like that you mentioned that no one can tell the gender of the baby just by looking at her stomach, but because our society is so fixated on gender we have a gender reveal party to know the gender of the baby before its born. I think that example highlights how gender is deeply ingrained in our society.
The “doing” gender with your dog was something i never even considered! But your right in the aspect that stores provide you with limited options in regards to colors… And the colors they do provide are based upon gender! If the dog is a girl, pink it is. However, if the dog is a boy, you can choose blue, green, red, ect… I never realized i was “doing” gender for my male dog until reading this… But on a positive note, your puppy is adorable!!
You’re analysis brings up some good points! It points out a lot of gendered aspects of our every day lives that most people don’t even think about twice. It is interesting to think about how some of these things got to be gendered. Like how was it decided that pink is feminine and that blue is masculine? How was it decided that flowers are feminine and more fresh scents are masculine? Humans have even forced their socially constructed gender onto their pets.
My favorite example was the photo with the pregnant woman. I like that you mentioned that no one can tell the gender of the baby just by looking at her stomach, but because our society is so fixated on gender we have a gender reveal party to know the gender of the baby before its born. I think that example highlights how gender is deeply ingrained in our society.
The “doing” gender with your dog was something i never even considered! But your right in the aspect that stores provide you with limited options in regards to colors… And the colors they do provide are based upon gender! If the dog is a girl, pink it is. However, if the dog is a boy, you can choose blue, green, red, ect… I never realized i was “doing” gender for my male dog until reading this… But on a positive note, your puppy is adorable!!