Introduction to Gender Identity of Interest

We all come from somewhere. However, I'm not just simply talking about our families - I'm talking more along the lines of our geographical location (mostly because not every has a family, per se, but they do have a place where they grew up/lived/etc.)  For my gender identity of interest, I'd like to look at "small town" Nebraska, how gender is expected and performed, in contrast with my "big city" Texas (specifically, San Antonio) and how gender is expected and performed.

Now, I know that I'm going out on a limb here on deeming what is and is not a small town in Nebraska because, honestly, in comparison with San Antonio, I would call Lincoln a small town because being able to get anywhere in less than 15 minutes is "small" to me. But, I think that it is safe to say that anywhere with a population lower than 50,000 - deal?

Anyway, I think that it would be interesting to look at small towns in Nebraska, not only because I am here, but mostly because Nebraska is highly a farming community-type state (in comparison with, let's say, New York or Colorado, which have small towns, but the stereotype isn't present for all the small towns). Taking a rural vs. urban stance on things, I think it would be interesting to see if there is a difference in how those from different sized towns see it OK to perform gender - is there more acceptance? Is there more resistance? Is there more fear? Is there more support?

To gather the information that I am interested in (Question: "How do you think your gender is supposed to be performed, and where has that information come from?") I would really like to interview at least 3 women from both big citites (+50,000) and from small towns (-50,000) to see what they perspectives are on gender. I am mostly interested in interviewing women because, as we have learned about hegemony, I have the feeling that men from both rural and urban locations would think of "being a man" in the same way (with one being more about "manlyness"). However, I wonder if women from more rural areas feel restricted to being mothers and the occasional pink collar worker and/or if women from more urban areas feel more free to do what they want - basically, if location has a difference in how women feel they are able to express their gender/sex in ways other than just "feminine" or "female".

To go back a step and back-up my view of oppressed women in urban areas, Little and Panelli (2003) stated in their article that research previously conducted on rural women showed that they were socialzed to the idea that women were not meant for work, that they were meant for motherhood. "Rural women, it claimed, were seen first as mothers, and their paid work, and critically, their career aspirations, were expected to take a secondary role" (p. 284). This finding is an interesting contrast to Bryant and Pini (2011) who take the stance as rural scholars to try and challenge the previous ideas of rural femininity by critiquing rural ideals with the platform that gender "is viewed as social process that is relational, dynamic, and historically and socio-politically specific" (p. 2). If women think that there is one way to live as a woman, then they are trapped to that thinking. However, if women think of gender and femininity as ever-changing and as something that can be challenged, could they still be trapped because of where they live and that society around them?

Now, for how these ideas of gender/sex come into being. From our textbook, DeFrancisco & Palczewski (2007) tell of children learning from social learning and modeling. Although the mostly talk about how children learn about their society and acceptable behaviors first and foremost from their families, I'm going to stick with the mindset of children learning because "They are most likely to model these behaviors if they admire the person(s) they are observing and are rewarded for following the behaviors" (p. 160). This shows how children can learn various things about what is right and wrong in their society via those who are not their family.

In the end, I am interested in this because, growing up, I was never specifically told what was feminine or masculine, what I could or couldn't do because of my sex, or that I was acting/thinking wrong because I was a girl. And I am wondering if there were other little girls, from locations that are less diverse than San Antonio, who were put into a box before they knew there was a box to be put into.

References
Bryant, L., & Pini, B. (2011). Gender and rurality. New York: Routledge.

DeFrancisco, V. P., & Palczewski, C. H. (2007). Communicating gender diversity: A critical approach. Los Angeles: SAGE Pulications.

Little, J., & Panelli, R. (2003). Gender research in rural geography. Gender, Place, and Culture, 10(3), 281-289.