Gender Notions - Oziel Juarez

The “Learning Gender” section of Shaw and Lee’s book comments on how gender is learned trait in society. Reading the comics included in the readings especially bring to light how ridiculous some of these customs are and how the in turn hurt everyone involved. The Cathy Guisewite comic was interesting because it showed so much how no matter what, toys have become so “gendered.” I remember reading an article, I forget about it now, but how so many toys use to be gender-neutral, but as time went on, toys that were marketed towards each separate genders made more money for companies because it doubled their profits. It comes to show how those big companies only rely on that ideal because it creates bigger revenue for them, not actually because they think it’s the normal thing. But this is also a double edge sword I feel like because although those companies are making more money, the average everyday person begins to believe this idea and before they even ask their child what toy they’d want or prefer, they’d rather let the company tell them what toy their boy or girl child is assigned. This then comes into the Calvin and Hobbes comic, where Calvin lets his little friend know about how gender politics just hurt damage those who are involved that don’t want to be. To me, in the end, gender notions are in put in place to make people not have to think outside of the box and to conform to one way of living. This is a toxic mindset because if these type of people think this is the only way of living, then they’re up to living a boring and basic life.