Blake Lively Is Policing Gendered Language Around Her Children
We've previously spoken about the societal expectations that mothers regularly face in order to to raise their children in the right way and how often, celebrity mothers speak out about motherhood and parenting pressures.
In the latest issue of Glamour, cover girl Blake Lively talks about motherhood and how she works alongside her husband Ryan Reynolds, to raise her children as best as possible. Lively claims that feminism has helped her as a mother, and has encouraged her to set out certain rules in the Lively-Reynolds household.
Talking to the US monthly, she says how her daughters - James, two, and Inez, who will turn one in September - are being brought up with their parents using carefully selected gendered pronouns.
Referring to a time where the couple will make the conscious effort to consider the pronouns that they use, Lively said: “So [Ryan will] pick up, like a caterpillar, and instead of saying, ‘What's his name?’ he'll say, ‘What's her name?”’
Credit: Nathaniel Goldberg/Glamour Magazine
Lively and Reynolds are also putting the kibosh on adjectives with negative and sexist undertones, such as 'bossy': “...We've joked that my daughter is bossy. But my husband said, ‘I don't ever want to use that word again. You've never heard a man called bossy.’”
“There would never be any negative connotation for a man being a boss, so to add a negative on a women being bossy? It's belittling,” she continued. “And it doesn't encourage them to be a boss.”
To the outside world, Lively seems to be doing a pretty good job at bringing her girls up to be strong and empowered young women, but she acknowledges that she still has a lot to learn: “So do I know how to be the best parent for a daughter? No, I have no idea. All I can do is share what I'm thinking — and learn from others.”
Whether or not there's an equation out there to be the perfect parent (we're going with not), the changes that she's actively making with her young girls are amazing first steps.
