Around 9 a.m. yesterday morning, Johanna and I were having breakfast when I asked her and Elin to pick their most favorite emoji erasers. On the count of 3, we all put our fingers on our top 1-2. When I asked Johanna why she thought her favorite emoji with hearts on her face was a female, she said, "because girls fall in love more". That was surprising. Why would a girl who just turned 7 think that? What other gender stereotypes does she (and Elin) harbor? So we decided to categorize each of the 23 emojis as male, female and neutral ("either"). The results are in the picture attached, and I can't say I disagree with their selections. Their reasons are a culmination of everything they've heard and seen at school, with friends, family, parents, teachers, cartoons/movies, books, media et al. It would be interesting to know at what age they'd form these biases. According to various studies, children as young as 4 years old can form very strong gender stereotypes.
Here is a summary of their gender selection criteria, with detailed responses below:
Girl characteristics: fall in love more, longer eye lashes, curved eye lashes, pink cheeks, shiny tongue, wink, day dream, blush (in pink), dimples, big eyes, small mouth, kissy lips
Boy characteristics: Look cool (or try to), fight, get knocked out, big teeth, look mad, tiny eyes and eye brows, blush in blue (not pink), red eyes, no eye lashes, big mouth
J: Girl because girls fall in love more
J: Girl because longer eye lashes
J: It has a bow, lipstick and long eye lashes
J: Boy because boys try to look cool and this one looks cool
J: Girl because of long eye lashes
J: Girl because of pink cheeks and tongue is shiny and is winking
J: Girl because pink cheeks and when it smiles you can only see the teeth
J: Boy because it looks like it was in a battle and got knocked out
J: Girl because it has long eye lash (E: it has a dreamy look)
J: Neither boy, nor girl because it's not cool, and it's not fancy
J: Boy because it has teeth big, mad open mouth (tiny eyes and eye brows)
J: Boy because it's blushing blue
E: Girl because it has a dimple just like the other obviously, and boys don't put hearts on their cheeks
E: Girl because it's blushing
E: Eyebrows are too long to be real without make-up
E: Boy because teeth are showing and tongue is huge and it looks cool because eye brows
E: Girl because lips too red to be natural (lipstick). Long eye lashes, and it looks like it's dreaming
E: That is soo a guy because small eyes and eye brows, big mouth, teeth are showing, big tongue
E: Boy because small eye brows, red eyes and no eye lashes
E: Girl because of blushy cheeks and kissy lips, and it has pink and red all over it, and looks like hypnotized by an expensive diamond necklace
E: Girl because short eye lashes that are a little curved, and a dimple by the mouth and has a dreamy look
Disagree:
E: Boy because mouth is wide open and teeth are visible, and tiny eye brows
J: Girl because her eyes are like hearts
Here is a summary of their gender selection criteria, with detailed responses below:
Girl characteristics: fall in love more, longer eye lashes, curved eye lashes, pink cheeks, shiny tongue, wink, day dream, blush (in pink), dimples, big eyes, small mouth, kissy lips
Boy characteristics: Look cool (or try to), fight, get knocked out, big teeth, look mad, tiny eyes and eye brows, blush in blue (not pink), red eyes, no eye lashes, big mouth
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| Click to enlarge |
J: Girl because longer eye lashes
J: It has a bow, lipstick and long eye lashes
J: Boy because boys try to look cool and this one looks cool
J: Girl because of long eye lashes
J: Girl because of pink cheeks and tongue is shiny and is winking
J: Girl because pink cheeks and when it smiles you can only see the teeth
J: Boy because it looks like it was in a battle and got knocked out
J: Girl because it has long eye lash (E: it has a dreamy look)
J: Neither boy, nor girl because it's not cool, and it's not fancy
J: Boy because it has teeth big, mad open mouth (tiny eyes and eye brows)
J: Boy because it's blushing blue
E: Girl because it has a dimple just like the other obviously, and boys don't put hearts on their cheeks
E: Girl because it's blushing
E: Eyebrows are too long to be real without make-up
E: Boy because teeth are showing and tongue is huge and it looks cool because eye brows
E: Girl because lips too red to be natural (lipstick). Long eye lashes, and it looks like it's dreaming
E: That is soo a guy because small eyes and eye brows, big mouth, teeth are showing, big tongue
E: Boy because small eye brows, red eyes and no eye lashes
E: Girl because of blushy cheeks and kissy lips, and it has pink and red all over it, and looks like hypnotized by an expensive diamond necklace
E: Girl because short eye lashes that are a little curved, and a dimple by the mouth and has a dreamy look
Disagree:
E: Boy because mouth is wide open and teeth are visible, and tiny eye brows
J: Girl because her eyes are like hearts
