Shopping for Gender

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0NoOtaFrEs

All parents want for their children is for them to be healthy and happy. Healthy is more luck of the draw, but happiness is something that needs to be achieved, and their are many variables that can affect it. I do not have any children, but I can imagine that a parent feels that their child's plight to happiness heavily depends on how they raise and influence their offspring. Their child's road to a happy life begins with socializing them with kids their age. If society deems them normal, they should have less adversity in life. So Mom and Dad buy their son's action figures and their daughters princess dolls so they can relate to their peers, make friends, and be happy at school because they are "normal". But what happen's when a child goes against the grain? Debra Rosenberg mentions a young boy named Jonah in her reading, (Rethinking) Gender, who insists that he is actually a girl. He goes by Jona, wears a dress to school, plays with dolls and loves the colors pink and purple. The parents are worried for their sons future because they know he will eventually face judgement from others. They sent him to a private kindergarten so Jona wouldn't have to hide the fact that he is a boy. But eventually it will catch up to him and his parents know it.

The link above advertises how girls are sick of having they same girly toys. They are tired of all pink and pretty toys, and how society thinks they know what they want. I feel this is a great example that illustrates the social norms that have been constructed for young boys and girls. The girls say that they are not all princess's, they want toys that are more mentally stimulating. Just like how Jona wanted to able to play with the toys that weren't meant for his gender, girls should be able to do the same. Society has been slowly becoming more accepting to things they are not entirely used to seeing. The internet allows people to read other peoples perspectives and struggles. At least for me, it has made me more understanding and sympathetic to other peoples problems, knowing I don't know their whole story. And in this day an age we are learning that people's, as well as children's happiness doesn't depend on the acceptance of others, but the acceptance of themselves .