I have a vivid memory from first grade. We were learning about birds, and of course, it was always exciting to see the most colorful ones. The lesson was also meant to teach us the scientific definitions of female and male in birds.
One by one, we looked at different species and had to guess which was which. I kept getting the terms confused because nearly every time, the most colorful birds were male. To me, this simply did not compute.
How could this be? Weren’t the female ones supposed to be the prettiest?
At age seven, I had already internalized that women and girls were supposed to be beautiful, and that this was considered one of their most important qualities. I didn’t understand male birds, but already, I understood the male gaze.
–Renee Roederer
*I wonder if we would teach this differently today. Also, like humans, biological sex in birds is not always binary.
Smuggling Grace 