Hicks described her experience as a young girl, practicing the fundamentalist discourses of the rural southeast. As I read her descriptions, I could relate well to several of her experiences. I agree with Hicks when she pointed out that Vacation Bible School provided literary experiences, “ones that forecast the life of a young reader”. Thinking back to my own experiences with Vacation Bible School, I remember creating illustrations for various Bible stories. This makes me think of current teaching practices, teachers ask their students to create mental images as they read.
As I read about hooks’ difficulty understanding gender roles I could relate to her struggle. From an early age I had strong feelings about gender roles. It made me angry that my “role” had been assigned without my permission. I had my own strong thoughts and opinions from an early age. Hicks stated, “If angry emotions were voiced in strong ways, they would not have been voiced, in my girlhood experiences, by women.” I found this to be true in my own upbringing, with the exception of my mother. She played a large part in making me feel confident at expressing myself, regardless of my gender. My grandparents had a dairy farm and as I child I spent my summers there, along with my brother and male cousin. I did not understand why the boys could drive the tractors and I could not. My grandfather encouraged me to stay inside with my grandmother and help prepare lunch. I had no desire to do such boring things inside. Growing up, I remember no one ever questioned my grandfather, except for me. My earliest memory of this was when I told him that I was not going to stay inside; I wanted to be on the tractor. Everyday after that I rode on the tractor with him, he even bought Barbie tapes and played them in the tractor. Thanksgiving also prompted questions and eventually resentment about gender roles. I wanted to know where was I when we voted that women had to cook and clean, while men ate and slept. This was (and still is) unacceptable for me. I am proud to be a southern female but this is one part of my southern and feminine discourses that I could happily do without. As a teenager, I remember blasting No Doubt’s song, “I’m Just a Girl” and having a strong and frustrating connection to each lyric.
Hicks described how Laurie’s embracement of feminine identity somewhat hindered her academically. “The feminine identity that Laurie readily appropriated also sometimes limited her engagements in academic activities.” Although Laurie was only a kindergartner, this makes me think adult women. The women who make a conscious decision to indefinitely terminate a desired education in order to maintain their feminine identify through a traditional gender role. Fortunately, this trend is slowly beginning to change. More females are “making time” to complete or continue their education.
Laurie’s desire to be “good” in school, made me think of students in my own classroom. Every year I have students who make poor choices, we discuss the problem, and when we talk about what needs to be done in order to prevent this behavior from happening again, I usually hear “I need to be good.” Year after year I have to tell students that they are already “good”, we just need to work on making better decisions. I do not want my students to ever feel as if I do not think they are “good” enough.
Stacy Durham
Comments (3)
Stacy,
Vacation Bible School and Sunday School were my beginning experiences with literacy as well. I don't remember my parents ever reading to me as a child, and I don't recall having any books in our home other than recipe books and the Bible. At church, I learned the importance of printed text, and realized that you could go anywhere in a book. Although I appreciate books, I am not an avid reader. For me, reading has always been easy, but I don't think it is 'fun'. (Of course I don't share this opinion with my students.)
Posted by Lisa Beach | June 26, 2011 5:19 PM
Posted on June 26, 2011 17:19
Candy Kee
One good thing about my early raising is that I was allowed to be a tom boy during the week but had to practice my feminity on weekends. I grew up with all male cousins and we played out in the woods and barn during the week. Weekends offered dresses and opportunity to play with girl friends from church. My role didn't change that much until I was in highschool and realized my feminity held me back. I could not stay out as late as boys because it was bad for my reputation. All of a sudden I could not hang out with them as much and my mother would drag me to boring showers and club activities like 4 H. I know all of these things are a part of my literary experiences but gotta tell you that I am still upset many days with my gender role. It took me many years to establish an opportunity to make decisions like what channel package I wanted on Dish or how I wanted to make the house payment. Many people will not even talk to a female if the husband is not home. Now what is up with that junk???
Posted by candace kee | June 27, 2011 12:05 PM
Posted on June 27, 2011 12:05
Way to go, Stacy! I’ll bet you rocked your grandfather’s world, and it sounds like he adapted just fine...and you got to ride the tractor, too!
On a more serious note, I do think that gender roles are often really limiting to both boys and girls. My daughter, growing up with two brothers who NEVER “took it easy on her,” was a tomboy from the very beginning. She played sports, finally settling on volleyball, and was active and physically fit as she grew up, and she did well in school, too...no “acting dumb” for her! However, she grew into her identity as a girl, as well, and is as feminine as can be now. I think that she is much better off for not having been forced into a role she was not interested in playing. She is a strong young woman with a real sense of who she is and what she believes. I think, too, that it is bad to push boys into being tough and macho just because they are males – and that happens, as well. I believe that we, in school, need to pay attention to not reinforcing these stereotypes.
Posted by Marlee Wright | June 27, 2011 3:32 PM
Posted on June 27, 2011 15:32