Thinking of home as a physical space is kind of difficult,
we usually associate home with feelings. Homes say so much about the people
that live within them. For example, the front room (tea room as we call it) of
my house is painted pink with vintage furniture and random knickknacks throughout.
My house is a very feminine space, probably just because my sister, mom and I
live in it. However, the structure of my house still perpetuates the patriarchic
and capitalistic society we live in. Even
calling our front room a “tea room” is play on the idea women sat around in the
home drinking tea and gossiping in Victorian times. We don’t call it a library
or an office because, when it comes to homes, those are masculine spaces. My
house is very large for a family of three. Every time we go shopping we pick up
some sort of decoration to fill the walls, just because we can. Not only has capitalism
thought us to consume but it also supports the idea, the bigger the better.
The idea that if the house is open floor plan then the whole
house must be clean, instead of just particular rooms. It is a subconscious thought
that the cleanliness of the house is a reflection of how much the woman cares
about her family (Valentine). When we were building my house my mom specifically
asked that our kitchen not be open to the living room and other entertainment
spaces. This is because she is a single mother and my sister and I are always
busy. We don’t always have time to clean the house every day. With rooms being separate
the need to have every room spotless is not as important because we can shuffle
our guest into clean rooms and have them avoid the messy ones. My mom also
wanted the rooms to have some separation because when she comes home from work
she wanted to be able to sit and relax in the living room and not have to worry
or look at the mess in the kitchen. I think this shows a shift in how some home
spaces are functioning against the normative patriarchic ideas. Of course, not
every family is going to be able to build a house from scratch but I think we
will see a shift in how families exist within the structures we have now.
Here's some cute little pictures of our "tea room" just for fun!
Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteYou raise some really thought provoking points here. I was particularly drawn by the part where you address your mother's intentional configuration of the house. You present the argument that she deliberately separated the areas of leisure from the areas of house maintenance, possibly to alleviate the stress attached with being a single mother of two. I feel as though you've closely related your personal experiences of home to Valentine's descriptions of gender relations, as well as social relations and work dynamics within home spaces. Further, I think your point about calling the front area of your home a tea room rather than an office or foyer or some other room for a name functions as a great example of how society creates gendered spaces. Overall, this was an interesting post; Thanks for sharing!
-Evan Bowser