Is Children Art a Gendered Activity? by Alex Cruz

acruz176_1 — 2024-05-19 19:03:48 UTC

Art is the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture,which produces works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Children around the ages of two to twelve have been drawing, painting, coloring, and sketching in school and/or at home. Art should be subjective to children as art isn’t gender. But there is a social construct of art itself. Young children are taught that “art” is for girls and “science and math” are for boys. This social context of gender is so much the routine ground of everyday activities (Lorber, J.,.1994).

Lorber, Judith. 1994. “‘Night to His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender.” Paradoxes of

Gender.

acruz176_1 — 2024-05-19 19:06:23 UTC

I have the opportunity to work with Kindergarteners, and I can see the influences of “gendered art”. I have a couple of boys in my classroom who do not want to paint, color, or even choose their construction paper, that is the color pink. Now this is a social construct as boys and girls are told that color has a gender when, in actuality, color is genderless. However, I do have some children who love the color pink and will continue to use pink in their artwork. And with my female student, one would think that girls are just naturally gifted in art, but it just takes practice and effort to create artwork, such as this piece by one of my female students.

acruz176_1 — 2024-05-19 19:08:15 UTC

Gender is a way in which social practice is ordered. And “Masculinity” does not exist except in contrast with “femininity” (Connell, R., 1995). You can see this concept in this artwork from my student, who is painting this wonderful landscape where the trees bear fruit and roses are growing on the field. This was painted by my male student, and if you saw just this artwork without their name, you would have thought this was painted by my male student, or my female student.

Connell, Raewyn. 1995. “The Social Organization of Masculinity.” Masculinities

acruz176_1 — 2024-05-19 19:09:02 UTC

When my Kindergarteners do their activities, we do a lot of art projects that involve a lot of color and imagination. My students, especially a few of my male students, absolutely love to do art, especially this student of mine. He has an active imagination and tends to always create something in the classroom after completing his homework. Observing this student’s artistic style, and comparing it to my female students, one would think about the gender roles, or sex roles that have been socially constructed (West, C., & Zimmerman, D.H., 1987). I, for one, do not see any gender roles when it comes to art because when I see my students smile with their finished art piece, it brings me joy that they don’t think about “Should a boy use the color pink?

West, Candance, and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. “Doing Gender.” Gender & Society.

acruz176_1 — 2024-05-19 19:09:44 UTC

My male students, who enjoy their artwork, and love to do these activities, does it take away their masculinity? No, of course not. My students are no younger than 4, and no older than 6, so with these ages, children shouldn’t, especially my male students, worry about their masculinity. I understand that at home for my students, it’s a different culture and background, but at school, children should enjoy the fun and pleasure in doing art, painting, coloring, and using whatever martials they want.