To begin, the reason I did my project on women from small towns in Nebraska, and looked at the ways in which they personified their idea of being a woman or being a female, was because I was from big-town Texas - a place where it's just as common to find women in men's clothing as it is to find men in women's clothing. I was going off the stereotype of small towns that men dominate what goes on there, thus implying that women go along with what men say - including the possible fact that men dicate how women portray their gender identity. For instance, in a location, such as a small town, where men are the ones saying what is and is not right, I thought that women would fall into the typical role of women: staying in the home, taking care of the kids, ascribing to womanly dress and fashion, and being submissive to men.
From that original idea came my project, where I interviewed 3 women from small towns - Marsha Thompson, from various towns across Nebraska, but lastly in Murray, NE with 463 people; Tegra Straight, from Ansley, NE with 555 people; and, Kristen Anderson, from Elgin, NE with 661 people. All of these women were from locations that were smaller than I had originally thought to look at (equal to or less than 50,000) - so I thought that I would get some interesting information that would go along even better with my hypothesis of overly feminine women following along with strict gender roles. Boy, was I wrong. All 3 of these women told me about things their parents, they themselves, and their communities told them about what it meant to be a woman - all of which were the opposite of what I was hoping I'd find.
- A memorable line from Marsha Thompson was about the lack of forcing from her parents to play with "girl toys," which coincided with her lack of wanting to have those toys anyways. "No, my parents never said 'You only play with these because they're for girls,' and I remember that because they always let us get 'boy toys' in all the kid's meals we got because we liked, you know, the trucks better than the ponies or big-eyed creepy dolls, ha, you know?" (personal communication, 3/29/12)
- A memorable line from Tegra Straight was about her parents subtle, not explicit, teachings about chores in her home. "No, my parents never said, you know, exactly, that girls were supposed to stay in the house and boys were supposed to work outside the house - but they did ask me and my sister, only, to do the dishes and do the laundry, and asked my brothers to take out the trash. So, I guess, those little things added up to basic gender groups, but, no, they were never outright said in our home" (personal communication, 3/28/12).
- A memorable line from Kristen Anderson was about her involvement in a multitude of sports and a conversation her mom had with her once. "Oh, yeah, I was in, uh, volleyball, basketball, and track from middle school through high school. And I did all of those because my mom was the star athelete in our family. She always talked to me about volleyball and basketball, and really wanted me to play them. She, ha, never said anything about my dad not doing sports, but I know that she didn't care, as long as some of her kids were atheletes" (personal communication, 4/6/12).
All of these findings really threw me for a loop because I was not expecting them to say things that were completely the opposite of what I was hoping to hear. The one thing that really shocked me was that all of them were involved in a large number of sports - if anything, I was expecting to only hear about dance team or cheerleading, but they were all in sports that may be considered to be "manly" sports, and were involved in a lot of those sports.
In the "poem," A Short Jot to Wahoo, my findings from my exploration to small Nebraskan town, Wahoo, is portrayed. I visited Wahoo on Easter (4/8/12) with my boyfriend to view the very tiny town that was just outside of Lincoln, as well as meet his family - all of whom were from different small towns in Nebraska as well. This also gave me a view of the small town life, from face-to-face talks and interactions that, again, proved me wrong. The one person I spent the most time with was his cousin Liz, who said at least 2 things that were really interesting to me - and only added to what I found in the interviews. First, while taking a scenic drive around the town to see the sights, she talked about a specific baseball field where she played years of softball - a point which goes perfectly with the mass of athletics the interviewed women participated in. But, the most interesting thing she said was along the lines of her upcoming marriage. She was talking with family about how things were going to go after she was married, and she calmly and matter-of-factly said that she was just going to hypenate her last name with his. She didn't say an exact reason why she was going to do that, but that fact that she said it with such decision greatly added a new dimension of insight to this gender identity project.
In the end, this project taught me that I shouldn't be so quick to let stereotypes skew the ways in which I view things, especially people from locations that are considered to be a certain way. The things I thought would be typical of small-town Nebraska I found nothing of. As an after-thought of the interviews, I realized that the ways in which I expected women to be raised and molded was actually more true of big-town Texas. I don't know what it is that makes my hometown more apt to align with gender stereotypes and prescriptions, but they are present there moreso than small-town Nebraska - a huge find, at least from my perspective.
Additionally, this project adds to Communication Studies in that it follows along with the idea of cultural ideology (DeFrancisco & Palczewski, 2007). The ways the women that I interviewed and observed were raised - community, parents, friends, etc. - plays heavily into the messages that they received, and the ways in which they see it fit to be a woman. Although there are ideas in the outside world about what women from small towns portray their femininity through the messages they receive, those ideas are just that until they are viewed otherwise, thus showing that other "cultures" should be experienced to learn more than stereotypes.
I think if someone were to go out and look at something similar to what I looked at for this project, I would highly encourage them to take things a step futher, past the gender binary, and look at sexuality instead. As seen in The Brandon Teena Story (1998), there is an unsettling feeling in small-towns towards sexuality that doesn't fit into what is deemed "normal." Were someone interested in looking into something having to do with small towns, I would ask that they look at, and interview others, based on this topic. While I found nothing about overly-feminized gender stereotypes and roles, maybe someone could find something out about feelings in smaller communities towards individuals who are involved/interested in sexualities that are not heterosexual.
References
DeFranciso, V. P., & Palczewski, C. H. (2007). Communicating gender diversity: A critical approach. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
Dekrone, J., Muska, S., & Olafsdottir, G. (Producers), & Muska, S., & Olafsdottir, G. (Directors). (1998). The Brandon Teena Story (Motion Picture). United States: Bless Bless Productions.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
"A Short Jot to Wahoo"
A Short Jot to Wahoo (4/8/12)
If I had time,
to sit and rhyme,
about the places I've been,
I'd stare and stare,
at a computer's glare,
wondering where to begin.
But though it is true,
that me, not you,
have had some wandering thoughts,
I'll say I have feared,
but now I revere,
those curious and quiet plots.
Cause there in Wahoo,
with sky such a blue,
was comforting to me with him,
I now know and show,
oh, where I would go,
had my sight stayed so dim.
So few, yet so same,
A true Nebraskan there I became.
Eyes opened to gain,
only a new frame - no sign of shame.
Women there,
stronger than here,
where I thought I was right.
No one held back,
all on a future track,
far from any gendered fight.
To see and live,
To take and give.
To respect and share
To know and compare.
To understand,
Give a hand,
and Take a stand -
even in the Prarie Land.
If I had time,
to sit and rhyme,
about the places I've been,
I'd stare and stare,
at a computer's glare,
wondering where to begin.
But though it is true,
that me, not you,
have had some wandering thoughts,
I'll say I have feared,
but now I revere,
those curious and quiet plots.
Cause there in Wahoo,
with sky such a blue,
was comforting to me with him,
I now know and show,
oh, where I would go,
had my sight stayed so dim.
So few, yet so same,
A true Nebraskan there I became.
Eyes opened to gain,
only a new frame - no sign of shame.
Women there,
stronger than here,
where I thought I was right.
No one held back,
all on a future track,
far from any gendered fight.
To see and live,
To take and give.
To respect and share
To know and compare.
To understand,
Give a hand,
and Take a stand -
even in the Prarie Land.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
My Concept Application
As my previous, Gender Identity of Interest, blog said, I am interested in looking at how differences in locations that someone could grow up would influence the ways in which they see gender. Specificially, I was interested in looking at small-town Nebraska and seeing how that different from the large-city Texas I was from. However, after doing 2 interviews with women that were raised in towns that, from their population estimates, were no larger than 600 people, I learned that there were greater differences in areas of gender that I did not predict finding.
To just give some background on the women that I interviewed, here are a few similarities that I found with what they said:
- In School, there were noticeable cliques that the boys and girls belonged to. However, since the grade levels were so small (the biggest graduating class was 55), everyone was "friends" with each other.
- Sports, as extra-curricular activities, were encouraged and were highly participated in. Interestingly, the following sports were common in both interviews: Basketball and Track, as well as some kind of younger league sports activity in elementary school
- Had mostly girl friends in the lower grade levels, but then had majority guy friends in high school
- Parents never explicitly said anything to them about what it meant to be/how they were supposed to be a woman; but a child when they were younger commented to them about doing things that were "for boys" or weren't "girly enough"
- On the other hand, their parents did do things that implicity created an idea of what it meant to be a girl. They got them toys that were specifically for girls and/or assigned them chores that went along with their feminine gender/sex.
From the above similar information nuggets, I found it interesting that what I would have hypothesized to be found, was nowhere in what they were telling me. But, what they said did, in fact, fit with something that we went over in class.
First, is the concept of Social Constructionism. According to DeFrancisco and Palczewski (2007), "social constructionsim suggests that meaning is constructed, not passively given, and that the creation happens in and through interaction with others and the culture" (p. 51). From this standpoint, I saw that the ideas the small town communities favored were not only from those in the community, but from the kind of lifestyle that was present in the towns. For example, although the type of work that was the backbone of the towns of the women I interviewed was different, there was still the mentality of hardwork instilled in everyone in the community. This could be the result of the very small population, thus the entire population knowing the business of the rest of the community/perpetuating the ideals of the community, or just the want to keep the community thriving. Either way, it was interesting that neither of the women I interivewed talked about their parents telling them specifics about what it means to be a girl or woman - and that they got that information from one of their peers. As both of them explained, by the time they heard from their peer the bit of information about them not living up to what was expected of their gender, neither of them showed interest or concern because they were already set in their ways - and were perfectly fine with that.
The other concept from DeFrancisco and Palczewski that corresponded to the information from the interviews I conducted was Cultural Ideology, which "refers to the ideas, values, beliefs, perceptions, and understandings that are known to members of a society and that guide their behaviors" (p. 145). This concept also plays off the idea of social constructionism in that no information is explicitly stated - what is valued in a community is the result of what is common in the community, or what is most present in the community to be learned by those who are part of the community. In other words, the ideals that a community hold dear are learned by those in the community through a variety of ways, and lead to how the community interacts and/or works. From the interviews from the two women, it could be said that something that was valued in both of their communities was the idea that children and young adults should do sports. It was never said in either of the interviews that either woman's parents pushed them to do any activities they were not interested in, but it could also be implied that simply being in the communities they grew up in, both women felt the need to do sports because it was something that was highly prevalent in their town.
These two concepts show how the majority of what we learn when we're younger, whether told explicitly or taught implicitly, is the result of where we are raised. While it is true that we learn from those that we are raised by, it is also true that we learn from what is going on around us. As stated earlier, there were times in the lives of the two women I interviewed where someone told them that they were not doing things that were in line with what it meant to be a girl/woman - however, younger members of communities rarely make "the rules". The influences and instructions the women I interviewed received from those older members in their towns were most likely what went to create their ideas and views of what it means to be a woman.
To finish out the rest of this project, I would like to interview one more woman who is from a small town in Nebraska. Although there were interesting similarities found between the two women I have interviewed, I would like to get another woman's perspective of the town she was raised in, and see if the found similarities could be explained as commonalities for women from small towns. (However, it will still be said that the similarities are not generalizable because they are all from the same state) Additionally, I would also like to visit either a town that one of the women I'm interviewing is/was from, or go to another small town and just people watch. It would be nice to see from nonverbals or hear from parents/friends/children any possible information about what it means to be a girl or boy; woman or man.
To just give some background on the women that I interviewed, here are a few similarities that I found with what they said:
- In School, there were noticeable cliques that the boys and girls belonged to. However, since the grade levels were so small (the biggest graduating class was 55), everyone was "friends" with each other.
- Sports, as extra-curricular activities, were encouraged and were highly participated in. Interestingly, the following sports were common in both interviews: Basketball and Track, as well as some kind of younger league sports activity in elementary school
- Had mostly girl friends in the lower grade levels, but then had majority guy friends in high school
- Parents never explicitly said anything to them about what it meant to be/how they were supposed to be a woman; but a child when they were younger commented to them about doing things that were "for boys" or weren't "girly enough"
- On the other hand, their parents did do things that implicity created an idea of what it meant to be a girl. They got them toys that were specifically for girls and/or assigned them chores that went along with their feminine gender/sex.
From the above similar information nuggets, I found it interesting that what I would have hypothesized to be found, was nowhere in what they were telling me. But, what they said did, in fact, fit with something that we went over in class.
First, is the concept of Social Constructionism. According to DeFrancisco and Palczewski (2007), "social constructionsim suggests that meaning is constructed, not passively given, and that the creation happens in and through interaction with others and the culture" (p. 51). From this standpoint, I saw that the ideas the small town communities favored were not only from those in the community, but from the kind of lifestyle that was present in the towns. For example, although the type of work that was the backbone of the towns of the women I interviewed was different, there was still the mentality of hardwork instilled in everyone in the community. This could be the result of the very small population, thus the entire population knowing the business of the rest of the community/perpetuating the ideals of the community, or just the want to keep the community thriving. Either way, it was interesting that neither of the women I interivewed talked about their parents telling them specifics about what it means to be a girl or woman - and that they got that information from one of their peers. As both of them explained, by the time they heard from their peer the bit of information about them not living up to what was expected of their gender, neither of them showed interest or concern because they were already set in their ways - and were perfectly fine with that.
The other concept from DeFrancisco and Palczewski that corresponded to the information from the interviews I conducted was Cultural Ideology, which "refers to the ideas, values, beliefs, perceptions, and understandings that are known to members of a society and that guide their behaviors" (p. 145). This concept also plays off the idea of social constructionism in that no information is explicitly stated - what is valued in a community is the result of what is common in the community, or what is most present in the community to be learned by those who are part of the community. In other words, the ideals that a community hold dear are learned by those in the community through a variety of ways, and lead to how the community interacts and/or works. From the interviews from the two women, it could be said that something that was valued in both of their communities was the idea that children and young adults should do sports. It was never said in either of the interviews that either woman's parents pushed them to do any activities they were not interested in, but it could also be implied that simply being in the communities they grew up in, both women felt the need to do sports because it was something that was highly prevalent in their town.
These two concepts show how the majority of what we learn when we're younger, whether told explicitly or taught implicitly, is the result of where we are raised. While it is true that we learn from those that we are raised by, it is also true that we learn from what is going on around us. As stated earlier, there were times in the lives of the two women I interviewed where someone told them that they were not doing things that were in line with what it meant to be a girl/woman - however, younger members of communities rarely make "the rules". The influences and instructions the women I interviewed received from those older members in their towns were most likely what went to create their ideas and views of what it means to be a woman.
To finish out the rest of this project, I would like to interview one more woman who is from a small town in Nebraska. Although there were interesting similarities found between the two women I have interviewed, I would like to get another woman's perspective of the town she was raised in, and see if the found similarities could be explained as commonalities for women from small towns. (However, it will still be said that the similarities are not generalizable because they are all from the same state) Additionally, I would also like to visit either a town that one of the women I'm interviewing is/was from, or go to another small town and just people watch. It would be nice to see from nonverbals or hear from parents/friends/children any possible information about what it means to be a girl or boy; woman or man.
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