The idea of Alison trying to make for the masculinity that her father lacked by becoming butch and doing all the things that he didn't to is coupled with the idea that her father is vicariously living through her. He tries to force her to the feminine and girly things that he was never allowed to do as a child.
I can understand both of their sides but I don't agree with the father forcing something on to his daughter that she clearly didn't want. When I think about the main idea a few particular picture frames come to mind. On page 97 where Alison's father is forcing her to wear something girly in her hair and she doesn't want. That scene shows the main idea clearly: Alison rebelling against her father's rules and wanting to be everything he isn't and her father living through her and forcing her to do the things that he never could.
I think trying to compensate for her father's lack of masculinity is only part of why she became "butch". I definitely think more of it was her sexuality. I also only partially agree that her father was forcing her to wear girl things and Alison subsequently rebelling. I think that as young children, our parents often dress us so that we are presentable for public and it has nothing to do with sexuality. This is why her father forcing her to wear the clip does not upset me, as parents dress their children often. However, I am sure that as soon as he did stop choosing her outfits for her, she did rebel.
ReplyDeletewhen forced kids rebel and it goes south from there, great post couldnt agree more with it. they both had what the other needed ( if that makes sense)
ReplyDeleteThere was an experiment I learned of where two children were raised without the social constructs of gender and developed their own interests with no regard to the social norm. I wonder if our interests are ever ours.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we know Bruce forces "straight" characteristic and such onto Allison, we never talked about how Alison could be seen doing the exact same to her father. For example on p.99 we see Alison telling her father that he should get a very masculine vest found in Esquire, which is a magazine intended for men. This example also happens to be located a page from Bruce living through Alison.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Alison was trying to make up for what her father was lacking. I also agree that Bruce imposed his femininity onto Alison because of his own wanting to be feminine.
ReplyDeleteYOUA SAID: I think that your first line was very strong because I didn't think of them using each other has mirrows. I really like that sentence.
ReplyDeleteTATY SAID: Peter: Where did you find about that experiment?
ReplyDeleteI believe that when she was little Alison just found dressing the way she did comfortable. I do not think it really had anything to do with her sexuality expression yet. Her fathers influence probably had to do with it as well though.
I have also seen experiments like the one Peter mentioned. Taty, you can find multiple instances of children being raised "genderless" just by googling it.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Bruce forces femininity on Alison, but, like Jess, I am not entirely convinced that it was in an effort to live vicariously through her.
I think that they wanted the one thing that they didn't have but the other did. Bruce wanted Alison to be her little princess.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, my mom read me a fictional story called "Baby X," about a kid being raised without a gender. Their hair was mid-length, they wore a variety of clothes, they played with trucks and dolls etc. This was in the 1980s. That story really stuck with me, so I was interested to hear from a student about the families who are actually trying to raise their kids outside of gender norms.
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