I chose to interview an old friend from high school to ask his perspective on gender in music and when he first considered the topic. I chose him to interview because we both took a class together in junior year of high school that gave us great insight into how gender has been shaped by society. Our American Literature course was taught by one of his favorite teachers who gave us the foundation we needed as young writers to analyze text and become critical thinkers. Gender was a topic that was commonly brought up in class discussions lead by our slightly feminist teacher. I thought this friend of mine would be a good candidate to interview because the course we experienced together as well as his love and understanding of music.
When I began to explain the topic of this English 1101 course I could tell he was immediately intrigued by the subject matter and admittedly a little jealous. When I asked him about the English class we took together in high school and if it changed his prospective as it did mine, he considered the question for a moment. He went on to explain to me that he honestly had never really thought about tracking how his views about the gender in society have changed. For most of his childhood, like most of us, he had been exposed to the media displaying gender roles in specific light in our society, but had just accepted in and not questioned why. However, like all great teachers, Mrs. Keathly had taught us to question why things are the way they are in culture and society today. “To be honest,” he told me, “I had been raised by a stay at home mom who did all of the cooking, cleaning, and a majority of the child care duties.” He said he had never really considered gender in the context of music, but listening to music over the years had definitely echoed his preconceived notion that women have a responsibility to complete different tasks in the family as well as society that men do. He had never inquired about the reason things are this way; he, like so many others had just accepted it. Taking this course junior year has helped him to see that gender roles are in fact set by the people that abide by them. Society is what sets the standard that we all are expected to follow and if we think that something is unfair or unjust it is up to us as members of society to change the standard.
mpersky3 