Growing up Female
This is Jill's post (we're experiencing some technical difficulties):
"Before I read “Growing up Female� I expected my experience being policed by white suburban gender norms would stand in stark contrast to the experience of Chicanas as reported by ethnographic findings in Hurtado’s chapter. As I read, I was surprised by how much I could relate to some Chicana experiences with gender divisions of labor within households and the ways in heterosexuality is upheld as a cultural standard. While I am not one to support the notion of some sort of universal women’s experience, I appreciate learning how intersecting systems of power affect women in similar ways.
My parents’ household had a very rigid gendered division of labor that has since shifted now that my father is retired. Like several of the respondent’s in Hurtado’s chapter, I learned from a very young age to do chores that have been traditionally delegated as “female�. Like Soledad (Hurtado 43) I would also say that I had a lot of homework to do in order to avoid cleaning! My own preference for books instead of laundry was rewarded to some extent by my parents—who would rather see me get good grades and be “upwardly mobile� than traditionally gendered (or, ideally, I would be both).
To be sure region also shapes identity and cultural gender norms. Perhaps my experiences as a queer white woman-identified person growing up in my parent’s house has a lot to do also with the Midwest and the fact that my parents have lived in this region all their lives. They are SUPER non-confrontational and very concerned with being nice. Issues of gender identity, sexual preference, sexual practice, and puberty were policed by silence. How stifling! Undoubtedly, my family-specific silencing of sexual expression is wrapped up in maintaining cultural norms of heterosexuality. Similarly, many Chicana’s families were concerned with upholding the “cult of virginity� (61) which perpetuates culturally dominant ideologies about womanhood and female sexuality. "