Blog 3
Growing up, a cultural artifact that greatly impacted me was
a wedding dress. As cliché as it may sound, the idea of getting married in a
white dress was a dream of mine since I was a young girl. I grew up in a very
traditional household where my parents expected us to get married in white. On
her wedding day, my mother wore a beautiful white dress. They had a picture of
them the day of their wedding hung up in the family living room where everyone
could admire them, at least I did. I was the youngest of three sisters and had
many older girl cousins. I grew up watching each of them get married. It was
not just the dress that was important to me, but what the dress represented: a
marriage. By the time I reached high school, many of my friends were in a
relationship. I was on the shyer side, and I remember thinking, when am I going
to find the right person. In retrospect, I’m not sure if many girls thought
this way. But this just gives an idea of how much this cultural artifact meant
to me. A couple years later, I married my high school sweetheart. I planned a
beautiful wedding and my dream of getting married in a white dress came true.
My parents saw me in my beautiful white dress. This cultural artifact helped
shape who I am and my values. Since one of my dreams was to plan an amazing
wedding and so forth, I grew up valuing marriage tremendously. To me, it is a
huge commitment and something invaluable. To this day, my marriage is something
that I am proud of. I have been with my husband for several years and have
overcome highs and lows. Thinking about it in “critically vigilant” lenses, pictures
of wedding dresses, marriage, and rings are shown to young girls to reinforce
the gender roles. Women are expected to want to plan their dream wedding and
the dress is a huge part of it. It has so much importance that there is a
television show specifically to “saying yes to the dress.” In contrast, men are
not exposed to these ideas. It is rare for men to be advertised wedding related
stuff.
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ReplyDeleteLeticia,
ReplyDeleteI imagine you're not alone in the importance of a wedding dress as a cultural artifact and rite of passage. I'm glad your dream of getting married in a white dress was realized. Your post also reminded me of something I say often -- "both can be true." In this case, we can critique a wedding dress as reinforcing heteronormative gender roles, and we can also find meaning, value, and validation in a wedding dress. Both can be true.
Thanks for posting!
Rodger
Hello Leticia,
ReplyDeleteI believe this is true for so many women. In the Latino culture we are expected to get married and have kids. We are frowned upon if a women decides not to get married and have kids. As I mother of two girls, I would love to see them get married. However, I need to be respect their decisions and be more open minded. The divorce rate is so high in this generations so I think it is okay for couples to move in with each other before getting married. I also feel that women are getting married at a much later time in life because they want to finish their education and focus on their career. I believe two people should respect their marriage vows and commit to each other. My parents have been married for over 30 years before my mother passed away. They embedded morals and respect to us and said marriage is forever. Of course, there are many factors that come in for divorce. For example, no one should tolerate cheating, mental and physical abuse. My hats off to your parents raising such a wonderful women who respects the true meaning of marriage.
Hi Leticia,
ReplyDeleteGreat cultural artifact, which I can agree with you in most of your statements in relations to a wedding dress. Coming from a Hispanic culture I believe it is traditionally that mentally inherited in us we see how the majority of our family or parents get married through the church in their white dresses and the way we want to continue our tradition in finding the person you're going to be married with and raise a family. As role models, I can agree my parents have been married 25 years and my grandparents have been married for 70 years, but I realize that now generations are pushing back the age because of financial situations or wanting to have an education to their name. Wanting to have a stable job in order to not depend on men because of how high the divorce rate is. But as a woman's dream, they do enjoy planning their wedding and making sure everything goes as planned and for a lifetime as well.
Thanks for the post!
Hi Leticia, this was such a great post. I think it's really neat that a white wedding dress was so much more to you than just a dress. It meant a lifetime commitment with your significant other as it should be. I think it's amazing that you kept such an important family tradition with the white dress as well. I think of myself getting married in a beautiful white dress too, and I know my wedding day will be one of the most important days of my life. I feel as if everyone should stress the importance of marriage with the right person. It should be a huge deal to everyone as it is the decision of who their life partner will be. I find your post very inspiring because it reiterates how important marriage is.
ReplyDeleteHi Leticia, I really love the cultural artifact you chose. My family is Costa Rican so I also understand the pressure to get married, have kids, and take care of the household. My grandparents especially try to instill the value in us everyday. With my mom and my other aunts they look at things differently now, especially in these days, so they dont push as often as my grandparents but it definitely is something that is expected of us. I myself do hope to get married someday because that idea of big beautiful church wedding with the white has always been a part of my life. I’m glad that your dream was fulfilled. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Leticia, it's wonderful that you were able to marry your high school sweetheart in a white dress. Growing up my mom would tell my older sister and I how she wanted us to grow up and see us get married properly in the church wearing a white dress. When I was younger, this used to be something I viewed as one of the most important events that I would someday experience. However, as I grew up, this fairytale idea of marriage does not appeal to me as much anymore. Although marriage is not something that i have exclusively planned/envisioned in my future, at least at the present moment, there is a part of me that remembers those childhood dreams getting married in a beautiful white dress.
ReplyDeleteHello Leticia,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading about your cultural artifact, congratulations on fulfilling your childhood dream of getting married. I think as women we all have this dream of having the traditional marriage, in a beautiful white dress. As a child, my mother's dream has always been to be able to see all my sisters and I have a traditional wedding, though right now our main focus is fulfilling our careers. I am happy to hear you value and uphold the true meaning of marriage.
Hi Leticia,
ReplyDeleteGreat choice in your cultural artifact, it is really nice to know you married your high school sweetheart and that you both are still continuing your marriage. The white dress is great symbol in many cultures and it represents more than just a dress, it is part of a union and in many cultures marriage in a white dress is more special because it is only one time that you are going to get married in and for most of the Latin culture it is in Church which makes it even more special.