A person's childhood is based upon recollections and memories of what happened in one's past. However, some individuals may recall their childhood, while others may vaguely recall their childhood and others may simply need assistance from a family member or friend to reinforce what happened in those years in order for them to remember. Comprehending our memory is important in making sense of our personal identity. Memory serves as a form of knowledge for us. It can contribute to understanding our childhood as it brings us into contact with past events. Our memory helps us recall events that occurred in the past even though, at times, our perception of the actual facts are somewhat inaccurate. What has been forgotten indicates that it might have been too painful or insignificant to recall. .
There is a resistance to not remember things that cause us pain. Therefore memory is selective. In terms of gender roles they are defined by ideologies within society. Being an ethnographer, it can be argued that childhood can be studied and explored by separating male and females from each other. In terms of children's popular culture, the study that I am conducting is essentially centered around children's toys, which can be defined by gender preferences. By doing research my main focus of my methodology is primarily on memory work and, as I am aware, memory is flawed. .
Gender roles help identify childhood in terms of what society categorizes males vs. females. According to a scholarly novel written by Claudia Mitchell and Jacqueline Reid-Walsh titled Memory Spaces: Exploring the Afterlife of Children's Popular Culture it refers to "She would never have been given something that wasn't exactly for a girl, and clearly distinguished from what the boys, her two older brothers would receive"" (Mitchell and Reid-Walsh, 69). These two scholarly writers state a prime example in defining gender identities.