Doing Gender while living with my Boyfriend

At my home, we “do gender” more than I expected. Gender is so ingrained in our society that I didn’t notice all of the gendered things in my own home. After taking photos for this assignment I realized that my boyfriend and I live in the same home, but we have very different spaces and experiences in our home. I am a very feminine female and my possessions and choice of decor displays this well. I am very particular about things and I enjoy expressing my femininity. On the other hand, my boyfriend is a masculine male and his possessions and decor, or lack of decor shows how he doesn’t care for details or value material things in the same manner that I do. These photos show how we interact and do gender in our everyday lives.

Doing Gender with the use of clothing

My boyfriend and I dress very differently. Although we both wear hoodies, they are styled differently to reflect our gender. My hoodie is the one on the left that reads “PINK”, the hoodie is “doing gender” through the use of colors. It’s pink and has PINK written in big black font that is commonly used on women’s clothing. The top of the hoodie is styled to highlight the neckline of the hoodie which is commonly desired by women. My boyfriend’s hoodie is a black, and plain with little details The writing is much smaller and commonly worn by men because of its style and simplicity.

Gendered fragrances

Even the presentation of our fragrances are gendered! My boyfriend’s cologne is displayed in the shape of a masculine man’s body. The bottle is blue and white and clearly shows it’s meant for me through its presentation. My perfume on the other hand, is more feminine. It’s presented in a cute little bottle with “Couture” written in pink, which a bow wrapped around the bottle and the top of the bottle is shaped like a diamond ring. All of these things are typically associated with femininity.

Girls Bathroom

In our home I have my bathroom and my boyfriend has his. In my bathroom you can see the light colors and feminine choice of decor. The shower curtain is pink, blue and white. On the sink I have my flat irons, combs, hair spray etc. All the things used to upkeep my hair and to be in touch with my femininity. Also, my bonnet is shown, which is predominately used by women to keep their hair intact over night.

“Boys” bathroom

His bathroom is “doing gender” in a different way. The bathroom is all black and plain. He has his hats and durags on the sink, durags are usually worn my men to maintain their wave pattern. His choice of bathroom color represents how men select black and other dark colors as their choice for decor. His bathroom is simple and shows his masculinity through his choice of decor.

Doing Gender SELFIE!

Our choice of poses for a selfie reflects our genders. I am smirking in the photo in a feminine manner. My hair is long and curly and I’m wearing a purple and gray jacket, which displays my gender. My boyfriend, Zach is wearing a durag, which is typical of men. He is doing some sort of masculine, mean, but not too mean face that a lot of guys typically use when taking photos. He has on a plain black jacket and black shirt.

Leave a Reply