Growing up, we are taught by society that gender dictates our roles in society. However, societal pressure is enforced by the people around us, our groups, and our cultures. Using the concepts taught in GSS, parents could raise their children in a healthy, judgment-free space. Also, occupations that work with children should employ the ideas taught in GSS as well. This includes teachers, child psychologists, counselors, pediatricians, coaches, and daycare workers. By employing GSS concepts, children will not be separated into boys and girls during gym class, children will not feel pressured to act a certain way to fit their societal role, and children will not be bullied for being fat if HAES is taught and the BMI index is reconstructed or removed.
I believe the most notable impact would come from parents teaching their children. Thus, I propose that a program or intervention should be created that teaches parents about GSS concepts; this way we can prepare parents to not enforce gender roles and allow their children to grow and to discover themselves and their identities without the influence of social constructs. Deconstructing Society would be a program that focuses on talking about GSS concepts to parents or future parents to provide them with information that will be helpful while they are raising a child. Deconstructing Society will create conversations around heteronormativity, gender roles, and sexuality. The purpose of this program would be to inform parents of the social construction of concepts and to help parents learn these concepts to properly educate their children on similar topics and to provide a healthy environment for their children to thrive.
However, Deconstructing Society could also be used to reach other audiences. Although aiding parents with GSS concepts would help parents provide a judgment-free zone for their children, Deconstructing Society could be used in colleges to discuss topics, such as rape culture, hookup culture, and similar topics discussed with parents. This program’s focus would be with parents. There are certain occupations available that could employ this program. For example, a family therapist could use this program to inform parents on how they can be supportive towards their gay child. Ultimately, Deconstructing Society would help parents create a safe and healthy environment for their children to thrive without being restricted by societal views due to heteronormativity and gender roles.
This is a very interesting idea, I completely agree. There needs to be an intervention, kids need to be taught early before societystereotypes and pressure influences teens. although it is important to teach and alow your kids to feel safe and to express themselves at home, if this is not the case in all house holds then these kids may still feel unsafe or unable to express themselves when they are at school especially in middle school. This should be something that kids are taught at home but also at school.
I really like this proposal and think Deconstructing Society would help so many parents learn about the social construction of gender and how gender norms are implemeted since birth. This could help parents navigate how to raise children with open minds and with more respect for others regardless of differences. I think this is a great idea because parents’ beliefs and what they teach their children can have such a tremendous impact on a child’s way of thinking growing up.
Jose, this is a wonderful idea. People may sometimes tend to forget the profound impact our family and parents have on our lives, especially if we come from a certain culture or are expected to follow a specific religion. Including different concepts we learned about throughout the semester like heteronormativity, gender roles, sexuality, rape culture and hookup culture to educate parents is extremely important and should be talked about openly with them so not only they can learn, but they can pass this on to the future generation. I also love how you included that this can stretch beyond just parents and have a positive impact on so much more than that. Great job!