Blog Post #10

Rhetorical Assemblage Brainstorming

After talking with you in class I am going to follow through with creating a children's styled book for expectant or brand new parents. The book will focus on the exigence of gender inequalities, specifically gender roles, that are socialized before babies are even born. I am still brainstorming how to incorporate part of the book to be aimed toward the children once they are born, so parents can explain the importance of remaining neutral when teaching boys and girls how to fulfill their gender. I like the idea of having pictures that children can relate to, such as girls playing with Tonka trucks and boys cooking in a play-kitchen, which would later transform into women working with numbers in banks, and men working in elementary school classrooms, both seen as "normal". I chose the primary audience to be expectant or brand new parents because gender role socialization begins even before birth. When a baby is still in his/her mother's womb society has already begun to give the newborn a role as either a boy or a girl. I want this book to be in a children's style because I know that expectant and new parents are quickly perked by children-looking 'things', like books, clothing, toys, etc. Parents are also the first people that new borns are influenced by and as young children they learn expected gender roles.

Notes:
Rhetorical Situation
Exigence/Issue- gender inequalities and gender roles should not determine how a new born boy or girl is socialized into society, nor should it outline his/her future
Audience- expectant/ brand new parents (potentially incorporating children as a secondary audience)
Constraints- modes that make up a children's book (primary colors, large fonts, pictures/clip-art, simplicity) ...also certain beliefs parent's may already have, and how to persuade both mother and father..."Daddy's girl", "Momma's boy", "big boy", "princess", "Is it a girl?", "Is it a boy?"
Rhetor-me

Dedication page: To the future "Mom" in me.

Genre: Book; educational, simple yet informative
Research: I will use my Social Problems textbook for specifics on gender roles and socialization, and I will also use the Academic Search Complete database. I also want to add a "for more information" page to the end of the book with a video link that perfectly explains gender inequalities from my Social Problems class.

Change: I intend to change parents' attitudes on how crucial it is to teach their children to be aware of their gender, but to also let children chose for themselves which direction they wish to go. In order for change to happen it will take many generations for parents to stop giving their children gender roles early on in life because this is what people have been socialized to do, but it's worth a shot.