nursingforsocialjustice

Have you heard? Mr. Potato Head is just Potato Head now. Yes, it is a potato. Do root vegetables have a gender? Toys don’t need to be gendered. And, it’s a potato. Yesterday a co-worker asked me, “how far is this going to go,” meaning, how gender neutral can we get? How gendered does anything need to be, considering that gender is a social construction that has changed over time? It is not a static entity. Gender is a function of social understanding about masculinity and femininity. Ultimately, My co-worker and I had to agree to disagree because my perspective, my critical feminist perspective, is that we go all the way to a gender entire album place where our identities are not tied to being a particular gender.

In terms of understanding power and how it is unequally distributed in all sorts of places based on gender, why do toys need to be gender defined? Why do we need to have titles like Mr. and Ms. and Mrs.? What was the initial purpose of them? They are indicators of power. So yeah, let’s go all the way on re-thinking gender, re-thinking gender stereotypes, re-thinking why we need to know if someone is a Mr. or a Mrs. or a Miss.

Peace,

Michelle D.

P.S. Have you ever watched the show Perception? It’s quite a portrayal of someone living with hallucinations and functioning in the world…and solving crimes. Challenging stereotypes while also perpetuating them.