My kids get divided into two lines before they walk into school with their teachers, a boys line and a girls line. The reason for this is pretty innocuous - most classes are at least close to 50/50 boys/girls, two lines are easier to deal with than one, and it gives most people a fast way to sort themselves into two groups. But then that separation continues through the day- boys and girls stay in the groups that were formed at the beginning of the day when they go to recess, to lunch, when they pick playmates and group partners for gym and for class assignments. So, something that wasn’t intended to create a social structure helps to do so, and perpetuates and exacerbates the clues they already get from broader Western capitalist society that boys are over here doing boy things and girls are over there doing girl things. Setting aside the minority for whom just deciding which line they belong in is a trauma, why would we do this to any of our kids? We made a stupid division for a lazy reason, and now we’ve created an artificial division in society.
A distinct problem that demonstrates a wider one. That is, divisions that are made between male and female that may seem small and harmless to begin with can grow over time, particularly as people navigate systems and institutions that are already in place.
My kids get divided into two lines before they walk into school with their teachers, a boys line and a girls line. The reason for this is pretty innocuous - most classes are at least close to 50/50 boys/girls, two lines are easier to deal with than one, and it gives most people a fast way to sort themselves into two groups. But then that separation continues through the day- boys and girls stay in the groups that were formed at the beginning of the day when they go to recess, to lunch, when they pick playmates and group partners for gym and for class assignments. So, something that wasn’t intended to create a social structure helps to do so, and perpetuates and exacerbates the clues they already get from broader Western capitalist society that boys are over here doing boy things and girls are over there doing girl things. Setting aside the minority for whom just deciding which line they belong in is a trauma, why would we do this to any of our kids? We made a stupid division for a lazy reason, and now we’ve created an artificial division in society.
This is a distinct problem
A distinct problem that demonstrates a wider one. That is, divisions that are made between male and female that may seem small and harmless to begin with can grow over time, particularly as people navigate systems and institutions that are already in place.