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Thursday, August 21, 2008

Explaining Sexism to a Child

My older son (OS) and I had been looking forward to today. After the Big Giraffe got home from work, we planned to run a couple of errands together, including ordering birthday cakes and ending with getting ice cream cones. Needless to say, we were both pretty excited about it.

First on the agenda was stopping at a Tae Kwon Do studio recommended to us by a friend. OS is interested in taking lessons in the fall. We observed a class, and I got to ask one of the instructors some questions. We also made arrangements for OS to take a trial class. All of OS's prior outside activities have been activities that either the Big Giraffe or I did as kids. Alright so all only means swimming and parent child t-ball, but still... OS asked me what my Tae Kwon Do uniform looked like when I was a little girl. I explained to him that back when I was a little girl, it wasn't very common for little girls to take martial arts where I lived. In fact, I don't know any girls my age who took it. OS was completely shocked. I mentally juggled several theories on sexism and gender before simply saying that people realized it was silly and that's why now both little boys and little girls are encouraged to participate in martial arts and many other sports.

We went to our wholesale club where OS ordered a small princess birthday cake for his at-home party and a larger emergency vehicle birthday cake for his big kids' party. I was careful not to express my opinion, so that he picked what he wanted. He was so ecstatic that he was literally hopping up and down. In fact he hopped out to the parking lot and we headed out to Friendly's for ice cream. He proudly told everyone about his two birthday cakes.

We then settled down to talk over ice cream. After talking more about his birthday cakes, OS wrinkled up his face and disbelievingly asked me to confirm that no little girls the I knew took Tae Kwon Do when I was little. I could see why he was confused. First of all, it doesn't make sense. Second, there were obviously girls taking Tae Kwon Do now. The instructor who helped us was female, and there were girls in the class that we observed. Finally, a child who orders one princess cake and one emergency vehicle cake clearly does not feel bound by any gender stereotype. Yeah, he was right to be confused! He wanted to know if I had wanted to take Tae Kwon Do. I started to describe Karate Kid. I was getting into it when I realized that OS had a glazed look in his eyes. He wanted to know if I ever would take martial arts. I looked on the class schedule we were given and sure enough adult Tae Kwon Do is offered. My last triathlon of the season is over in a couple weeks.... surely it wouldn't hurt to look into it. I mean you could even go say far as to say that I would really be doing myself a disservice by not trying out a sample class, right? Boy won't the Big Giraffe be surprised when he reads this post!

A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: While Tae Kwon Do was not always an option for girls in the past, it is now available for girls and women of all ages.

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posted by Alex Elliot @ 8:25 PM   4 comments
4 Comments:

  • At 8/21/2008 10:12 PM, Anonymous CableGirl said…

    I study Kung Fu and work out in the studio 3 days a week. It's an incredible experience. You should totally try out the class.

     

  • At 8/21/2008 10:43 PM, Blogger Heather said…

    And that, right there, is a perfect example of why I love you even though I've never met you.

     

  • At 8/22/2008 10:35 AM, Blogger Jen of A2eatwrite said…

    Alex, this is so cool on so many levels! And you'll have a blast doing the martial arts!

    And I miss Friendly's!

     

  • At 8/22/2008 3:25 PM, Blogger Suzanne said…

    I took gymnastics as a kid, and I loved it. But I also don't know any girls who took martial arts in our area. Interesting. I did take Aikido once in college, and I was beyond awful in it. I'll be curious to hear about your martial arts experiences.

     
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Name:Alex Elliot
Home:MA, United States
About Me:Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 6 year old and a 3 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.

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