Small-town + Women: Summary Blog

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.