Fun Home Gender Identity

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In Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, the main character Alison has a hard time with expressing her gender comportment and gender identity. Alison has this gender assignment, which is “The gender assigned to a baby when born, translated into gender-specific treatment and socialization throughout childhood” according to Threshold Concepts (192). Not only is Alison striving to be more boy like, but her dad wishes for the life of a woman. Throughout the book Fun Home Alison is constantly trying to overcome her gender assignment given to her by her family as well as to understand her intriguing father’s situation. Gender assignment can start even before birth. When parents find out the sex of their baby, using an ultrasound that's the beginning of the child’s gender assignment. Many parents paint and decorate a nursery, depending on the baby’s gender before the child is even born. The child doesn't know anything other than what they are taught by their parents. Baby girls are brought up to like toy dolls and pink, boys are taught to like trucks and the color blue. For example in the book …show more content…
In the book Fun Home Alison bechdel’s parents do the very same for their children, but in my opinion Alison’s dad could've helped her more. Her father understood what it was like to grow up different than others. He even admits to doing the same things Alison did when she was a child. He couldn't express or display himself as a woman the same as Alison couldn't as a man. Throughout the book there were numerous times he was able to talk to Alison to maybe help her, but he never did. Not only did he not help her through the tough time, but he tried to enforce her gender assignment as a girl throughout her childhood. I just thought it was intriguing that after all of his years of struggling himself, he reinforced his own daughter's gender assignment instead of supporting and helping her through

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