Blog Post 5

Rofes makes the distinction that performance of gender roles can be portrayed by both genders, meaning boys can perform the same kinds of activities as girls do. He basically is saying that even before we are born we are predestined to our gender roles because that is what is expected of us. I know from my own experience in school that the topic of gender roles was never of concern. The learning environment I was surrounded by, as child was not necessarily tailed towards being open to reversing gender roles. As a little girl I was unfamiliar with sexuality and what it meant but that began to change as I matured and became more cultured. In high school I began to develop a better understanding and realized after meeting different kinds of people that what Rofes suggests about gender roles could actually be true. I attended an all girls private, Catholic school where many girls  that I knew were gay and very open about their sexuality. At school dances and even at prom it was not uncommon for a lesbian couple to attend which I thought was really cool because they were comfortable enough to be themselves since they felt accepted by the school community. Rofes describes childhood as being a period of learning through experimenting and exposure. He is a bit radical in his description but that makes it much more raw and completely honest. The liberal and radical distinctions of addressing homophobia and heterosexism have to do with contemporary understandings of childhood because childhood is the time where a child really begins to explore their bodies and discover what excites and makes them happy. Childhood is the time when you are completely innocent and are most vulnerable to everything. I found Rofes reasoning on sexuality to be very interesting, it gave me a new perspective on what it means to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender and how some people such as Rofes defines it. My vision for the school that I will be teaching at in the near future is that it will be a very safe community where children or adolescents do not feel that they have to conform to the social norms of our society.