Barbies and Trucks:
WalMart

Gender Lessons at

time I go to Wal-Mart I
am confronted with
some sort of gender stereo-
type. For instance, I was on

my way to the bathroom
during my last visit there
and in front of me was a
man with a boy roughly 7
years old. As we were
heading in the same direc-
tion the boy in front of me
started towards the
women’s bathroom, only“ to
be steered towards the
men’s room. I heard the
man say to him, “That’s the
girl’s bathroom, see the
dress on the door?”

My head raced with
so many different things I
wanted to say to both the
man and the little boy. For
starters, I hate that public
women‘s bathrooms have a.
figure on the door wearing
a dress. I know those sym-
bols» have been. in place- fOLi,'
so long that they are hard to
fight. but those symbols —
lead to people jumping to
conclusions whenthey mis-
takenly call me ‘sir’, which
I am greeted with about
95% of the time when I
walk into Wal-Mart.

“Hello, sir, would
you like a shopping cart?”
I”ve even had a few
cashiers bid me to “Have a
iI".lOCl day, sir.“

Now, I don’t want to
pick on one of my favorite
shopping places in the
world. I mean, where else
can I get shampoo for $.97‘?
Sometimes I tell myself to
be patient with people, that
oftentimes those same peo-
ple who hand me a false
label, along with my smi-

It seems as though every

I ley-face sticker, are older

senior citizens. The genera-
tion gap is the problem, I
tell myself. But what about
the middle-aged men and
women who teach their kids
that girls are distinguished
by dresses and boys are
not?

I Some parents may
not think they are sending
their kids mixed messages,
but I can imagine the confu-
sion that the boy in front of

 

me would have felt if he

would have turned around
and got a good look at me:

. “Daddy, why did that boy

go into the girl’s bath-
room?”‘The father, who
would assume that I could
read and had, in fact, gone
into the correct room,
would assure his kid that I
was a girl. “But why does
she have such short hair?
Only boys have hair like
that.” At this point the
father would either shut his
kid up and throw him in
front of a urinal or explain
to him that some girls have

      

understanding that short
hair doesn’t equate to a - -- f’
penis. I’m gentle with them
because I know they are too
young to fully grasp a con-
cept that goes against what
their parents have taught
them so far. I can’t say my
words would be so gentle
with their parents. I do have
some hope for this genera-
tion of kids, though.

One day I overheard
a small group of my kids
talking about marriage, gig-
gling over the idea of one
marrying the other one. I
smiled to hear them talk
about-being the best man
and having a honeymoon. I
restrained myself from
clouding their image by
referring to any other type
of marriage when I heard a
little girl say that she was
going to marry her best
friend someday. The boys
madejounds ofudisapproval
and said, “Girls can’t marry
girls!” The little girl looked’

But what about the middle-aged

men and women who teach their
kids that girls are distinguished

by dresses and boys are not?

short hair and boys can
have long hair. He may
even remind his kid that
pink is not just for girls and
that toy motorcycles are not
just for boys. That may be
wishful thinking, but I will
not judge the man in front
of me. ‘

As a preschool
teacher, I’ve weathered a
few debates with 4- and 5-
year-olds over the fact that
Barbies are not just for
girls. I have many times
had to answer the question:
“Are you a boy or a girl?” I
usually reply by asking
them what they think. More
often than not they grin at
me and say, “You’re a girl.”
I thenuse this time to guide
them through the process of

at me and said, “I can
marry whomever I want,
right, Amber?” I said,
“Sure, you can marry who
ever you love that loves you
back.” They then went on to
talk and laugh about the
idea of marrying their mom
or their dad, but I think
some of them got the point.
Someday when I have kids
and read them the nursery
rhyme about little girls
made from sugar and spice
and everything nice, I’ll
also include Ford trucks,
buzzed hair and steel-toed

boots. V

Amber Leventry is a 22-
year~0ld trying to find her
place in the after-college
world. She currently lives in

now booking our all~female crew

for the spring & summer

WOMENBUILD
CARP:-:N+“RY EBAY " "WOMEN
Womenbuild is a division of Northern

New England Tradeswomen, Inc., a
nonprofit organization that trains women

for non~traditiona1 trades work. I

Specializing in Renovations and New Construction!

 
 

he Future's
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