I'm a huge fan of Korean dramas (TV shows), or for short, K-Dramas. However, I'm also a huge fan of a strong female lead--someone who inspires you and makes you feel proud to be a girl. Unfortunately, when it comes to strong female leads, the history of K-Dramas is a bit disappointing. Any K-Drama fan knows the classic cliches that are abundant in these shows: the rich guy and the poor girl's romance, a girl gets super drunk and the guy gives her a piggyback ride, the guy gets hurt and the girl fixes him up, girl almost gets hit by a car, but the guy saves her, etc. It doesn't stop there. While there are so many of these overused K-Drama cliches, they often always paint females as helpless women who needs a guy to save her. To young impressionable girls, this obviously isn't the most empowering message to promote. The world of K-Drama cliches reflects the traditional gender roles that are present not only in Korean society, but worldwide. Traditional gender roles...
For the past few weeks, videos of a mother raising her child have continually popped up on my "For You" page on Tik Tok. However, this mother's videos were unique from others I have seen--she was raising her son in a gender-neutral environment. After watching these videos, I found myself thinking a lot about how gender and gender norms function within our society and in my own upbringing, whether I realize it or not. One large thing that is affected by a gender-neutral upbringing is the toys that are given to a child. My mother had supplied me with an abundance of toys, with everything from Barbie dolls to automated "Bop-it" games. On the other hand, my brothers received superhero action figures and Hot Wheels race cars. Looking back, even the things we shared in common, such as Webkinz stuffed animals, seem to have a divide. While my brothers sported poisonous lionfish and hefty leopards, I played with delicate kittens and q...