Doing Gender  29.75” x 42”

This drawing includes my daughters and my nieces playing dress-up together.  Although the older girls no longer play dress-up on their own, they are happy to indulge their cousins.  Notice the oldest girl’s (age 15) jeans and shirt under the dress.  The next in age (13) is still willing to remove her regular clothing for the game, but it’s certainly not an activity she would engage in with her own peer group.  My son is not in the picture.  He is now 11.  The girls enjoyed dressing him as a girl or a man for a pretend wedding when he was much younger, and he was eager to participate.  It has been interesting to watch the gender sanctioning that takes place in my home as my children grow up.  As hard as I try to teach what I consider to be “good” qualities and behaviors to all of my children, they are quick to sanction each other over non-acceptable gender-related behaviors.  It saddens me.