Gender at the Mall of America

     The Mall of America is a destination where people go to shop, eat, go the movies and the Nickelodeon amusement park, and to socialize at the other venues within the mall.  It is a place where a diverse group of people are all in one contained space.  I went there on a Thursday after work and observed people as they walked around the mall.  When I first got there I thought that it would be hard to come up with much to write about in regards to gender.  After I settled in one could see how gender is displayed by people navigating through the mall.

      In the “The Social Construction of Gender,” Lorber talks about how gender is a process where men and women “learn what is expected, see what is expected” in ways that “simultaneously construct and maintain gender order.” (Lorber, p. 127) I noticed that how I observed things in the beginning was completely driven by what I expected to see.  I noticed men carrying women’s bags.  More women than men were shopping. If there was a couple and there was a stroller the man pushed the stroller.  These behaviors reinforced the lens I have about how I see gender.  But at the same time there were exceptions to these roles where women did push the stroller or carry the shopping bags.

     As for the learning of what is expected that Lorber talks about it was very obvious at the mall.  Gender socialization was very apparent.  There were many young children (who are obviously dressed by their parents) outfitted according to how society thinks girls and boys should be dressed.  Boys often had on little baseball hats and girls had something pink, frilly and/or really bright colors. This socialization was evident across cultures when comparing two little girls I saw: both were about four years old, one had on jeans with an embellished tutu over them and the other little girl had on a hijab with little pieces of sequins sewn in.  They were both dressed “all girl.”

   Even though the Mall of America is a place where there are not any formal rules regarding gender, save for male/female dressing rooms, there are unwritten roles that people follow.  One area this was noticeable was how people were grouped and how they acted within that group.  When there was a group that was single-sex it seemed that they were at the mall for different reasons.  Men with other men did not have shopping bags and seemed to have a determined walk with a destination they were heading to.  Women shopping as a group had multiple shopping bags and were not as rushed.  

    Also, it was interesting to observe to how people reacted to someone outside what is considered “normal” in terms of how a person looks or acts at a certain age.  There was a woman over 60 who was dressed head to toe in orange: orange jean jacket, orange pants, orange bag with gold studs.  She walked fast and with a lot of confidence.  The people who paid the most attention to her were other woman.  It was as if she did not fit into the typical gender schema of a woman being passive and quiet.  What may be telling as well is that since she was older she did not get as much male attention.

   The age of a person influenced how gender interacted.   Boys in a group versus boys and girls in a group acted differently.  Boys alone were more subdued but when with girls the group was much more boisterous.  For example, a teenage girl was there with five other boys.  I am not sure what her place was among the group but they were vying for her attention.  There was a lot of roughhousing with each other as they walked and she stopped frequently to look at shoes in stores.  

    Lastly, even though there are not explicit roles males and females are supposed to play in the mall there are very clear messages from the stores about what specific genders should desire or what they should look like. In Nellie Wong’s poem “When I Was Growing Up” she talks about how she wants so badly fit into very narrow definitions of what is considered beautiful.  She says "when I was gorwing up, I read magazines and saw movies, blonde movie stars, white skin, senuouse lips." (Wong, p. 144-145)  The messages in the mall from ads, mannequins, and merchandise sold still reinforce the notion that gender is not on a continuum but rather fits into a small box that Wong talks about.

     In summary, what I found most interesting in observing gender at the Mall of America was that to me it seemed women had a broader continuum of socially acceptable behavior and dress within the mall.  I say this though as only a visual observer.  What women wore in the space ran the gamut from workout wear, Twins jerseys and baseball hats to dresses and heels.  They walked arm in arm with other women.  If they were shopping with other men the women seemed to be leading the way.  Maybe this is perhaps because what women were mostly doing in the space was what women are expected to be good at, shopping.

References

  Lorber, Judith. The Social Construction of Gender. Ed. Susan M Shaw and Janet Lee . 5th. Vols. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions. New York: McGraw Hill, 1994. Book.

  Wong, Nellie. "When I Was Growing Up". Ed. Susan M. Shaw and Janet Lee. 5th. Vols. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions. New York: McGraw Hill, 1981. Book.