This NY Times video profiles fifth-grader ZeAndre Orr, a double dutch champ. ZeAndre was mocked and even assaulted by other boys at his school for participating in the “girls’ sport” and his mother initially tried to disuade his aspirations.
There is also a short article that accompanies the video.
As feminists, it’s understandable that we generally focus on girls and women who break down gender barriers, rather than boys and men who do the same. Indeed, some might even make the argument that this little feature is bringing the focus back to men, even when concerning an area predominantly populated by women.
But I think they took an important approach here, and I’m definitely filing this one under Patriarchy Hurts Men Too ™. If we’re going to rid the world of rigid, oppressive stereotypes, it’s extremely important that girls and women aren’t the only ones pushing the envelope and redefining what gender and gender performance really means. Because girls and women, while generally impacted much more severely, are certainly not the only ones hurt by society’s current standards and expectations.
Good work, ZeAndre, and congratulations!
See more at Sociological Images, where there are some interesting questions asked about how we as a society decide what does and doesn’t qualify as a sport, and how those decisions tend to fall along gender lines.
Boy,that’s awful I don’t know how i can even compare it toi my patient with the non Hodgkins whose chemo isn’t working.Thanks for bringing a little perspective into my life.
I would like to ask for your apology for the above.the patient to whom I referred is someone I grew up with,and i’m feeling rotten Certainly,you should have the right to publish something on your site withpoout a totally negative respones.I’m sorry.
Why is it that sports really seems to bring out the worst regarding gender identification. You know, like the wackjob that goes: Football, baseball or racing is for men and, girls should play…uh, oh, *cough*…well, girls shouldn’t do sports ”
What the hell difference does it make? Just play the damn game and have fun….
I’m sorry about your patient/friend, Corwin, and I hope that somehow things might improve. About 6 weeks ago, a very close friend of mine committed suicide, so I understand grief at the unfairness of the world and randomly lashing out at people because of it — especially on the internet which, encourages impulsiveness and seems relatively anonymous. Take care.
corwin – i will sacrafice a goat for your friend. not literally, and not flippantly, i just hate haing ppl tell me they will pray for me, so i say that instead :)
Cara – when i was in Juior High and High School, both schools had sing/dancing classes/groups/competetors (we competed in eightly jillion events). there was also, in the town, a school that was like a dance school but did double dutch, as the above talks about but not in the actual school, it was an after school thing. kids who did the doubl-dutch school were offered first dibs in the dance groups. apparently thats why i didn’t make the cut first year – i didn’t do the jump rope. but i wouldn’t call it sport, i would call it art. but then again – i used to be a dancer (centuries ago when i could use my right leg).
that boy, he kicks much ass.
I think you’re actually underplaying the violence involved in producing gender norms here, the cultural production required to make sexes “opposite.”
I mean, the kid was pushed down the stairs. What happened to the boy who pushed him? Violence against gender variant boys (and trans girls seen as boys) is generally institutionally legitimated (by parents, teachers, coaches, administrators, ministers etc) by narratives like “boys will be boys,” “toughen him up” etc. When I read he got pushed down a flight of stairs, I knew from personal experience that he got off lightly, sadly.
What if this isn’t the only way he transgresses gender norms? He might be otherwise gender normative, but he might not. The point is, look at what gets mobilised by what is a fairly mild gender transgression–something gets produced as exceptional, a source of anxiety, a “problem” for adults to manage. I’m glad his mum saw the light, but it could have gone much differently.
Gender boundaries get defended *hard*…
I was initially confused because where I come from, “double dutch” means “nonsensical speech”. We call that game “skipping”. I tried it when I was a boy, and after taking the skin off my knees a number of times, concluded that it was, in the words of Oscar Wilde, “all very well a good game for rough girls, but not for delicate boys.”
[...] * Via Feministe: Don’t make fun of boys who do double dutch: [...]
I’ve think Double-dutch is awesome and i wish I could have learned when I was a kid. Skipping rope with a single rope was the norm, but boys generally could play too. I don’t remember controversy over that, but maybe that’s because I have 5 sisters and only remember jumping rope at home, not at school.
Corwin, my condolences on your grief. I lost a friend to non-Hodgkins lymphoma a few years ago. I’d known him since I was 12. He was 41 when he died. We attended different schools up to college, but we were housemates there. Another friend is dying of cancer right now.
[...] Feministe » Boys Who Do Double Dutch [...]
Anyone else remember The Bernstein Bears where the kids do double dutch? I remember hoping that it was made up for the book, because it seemed too hard for me to ever do in real life. Then the next year in first grade it was all the rage and I couldn’t do it and was so sad.
Also, why do the school jumpropes have to be the ones with the hard plastic beads!? THOSE THINGS HURT LIKE HELL.
Argh. I’m of about five different minds about this sort of thing and I’m in a bad mood in general. One, it’s great to see boys engaged in this kind of activity with some notice to the discrimination he experienced. Two, it’s depressing to me that this is worthy of notice and comment. Three, I remember the shit I got for playing violin rather than a more masculine band instrument. Fourth, this kind of stereotyping makes me want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers. Fifth, it annoys me the way in which the choreography was done to emphasize that yes, he is a boy.