Why No Gloria Steinem Barbie?
Posted
March 19, 2008 at
8:42 pm by
Maureen
While surfing on the internet the other day, I came across this and this. They’re shirts for little girls which proudly state: “President, Not Princess” and “Doctor, Not Diva.”
Let me start off by saying a loud, resounding, “YES!”
What a brilliant shirt. What a brilliant message.
I may have a son, but I have what feels like 6,789 nieces. Finding gifts for them for Christmas, birthdays or whatever presents somewhat of a challenge since I refuse to purchase anything with the words “Diva,” “Princess,” “Lil’ Darling,” or “Drama Queen.” Yesterday I saw a pair of sweatpants which said “Bootylicious” across the butt. They were size 18 months. I also refuse to buy anything even remotely related to those Bratz dolls which resemble child prositutes.
Now, I’m not someone who generally reads too much into things. I’m pretty selective about the battles I choose and arguing with people about the fashion choices for gradeschoolers isn’t something I generally engage. I mean, I could go on and on about how difficult it is to find a basic pair of jeans for a little girl that don’t have beads, sequins or ribbons attached to them. Or, I could ramble on about the messages of Disney movies (i.e. Sleeping Beauty snoozing away until the perfect man rescues her and the Little Mermaid giving up her voice to have a chance to meet some good-looking dude) and I could prognosticate about the horrors of Barbies, but truth be told, I wouldn’t forbid my daughter to play with or watch any of those things. I think, tempered with the wisdom of an informed parent, Cinderella and her posse and even evil Barbie, are probably OK.
The hardest issue for me to swallow is the almost complete lack of an opposing viewpoint. Where are the cartoons where the princess rebuffs the handsome prince and opens her own 401K and starts a small business? Or, the Barney songs about, “First you get a college degree/Then you work for awhile/Only then, my friend, can you even think about getting married/”
Someday, if I have a daughter, you can bet your ass I’ll be dressing her in those shirts. If I don’t have one, I’ll at least be drilling into my son’s head that he should want to end up with a “Doctor” rather than a “Diva.”
Tags: bratz-dolls, disney-movies, feminism, girls, girls-clothing, Parenting, raising-a-girl |
4 Responses to “Why No Gloria Steinem Barbie?”
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1. Rita said:
March 20, 2008 @ 6:54 am
Yes! Yes! Yes! I have two daughters, one of them is a black belt in tae kwon do, and while she’s a Barbie and Disney Princess enthusiast, she’s also quite the mini-feminist. The misogynist messages in those movies are over her head and at 9, I figure I’ll let them stay that way. They certainly aren’t how she views herself or her gender, so why mess with it.
But, we do read Gail Caron Levine books. She wrote Ella Enchanted (wow, second time in 24 hours I’ve commented on that book on this blog), and Fairest (http://www.amazon.com/Fairest-Gail-Carson-Levine/dp/0060734086) and a bunch of other “evolved” fairy tales.” We lurve her.
Those anti-woman messages can be countered just by leading the opposing lifestyle and raising your kids with your values. Which is how I do have a feminist who watches Disney Princesses and a sweetheart with a black belt who can watch The Bourne Ultimatum without batting an eye, but going into hysterics during March of the Penguins. How you live is more important than what they see.
2. Jessica said:
March 20, 2008 @ 10:25 am
I have no idea why parents, especially mothers, encourage stereo-types in their daughters.
One phenomenon that makes me crazy is when mothers encourage their Kindergarten daughters to have a “boyfriend”.
I’m far from being a feminist, but I am proudly anti-Diva and anti-trailer trash.
3. Allison said:
March 20, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
I agree, I hate the “Diva” “Spoiled” and “Attitude” products out there. I LOATHE Bratz dolls. We call them the Bad Barbies, “because they wear too much make-up”. And I hate pants with words on the butt.
And call me crazy, maybe I read too much into stuff, but while shopping at Target the other day, I was looking for a shirt for my 4 year old (she’s an XS in the ‘big girl’ section) and had to sort through the printed shirts because I didn’t want the one covered in Cherries. Sorry. I must be nuts. I think it just sends a subliminal messasge. Couldn’t they have picked a different fruit!?
I just don’t want my girls being raised thinking “Daddy will give me whatever I want” and “Stuff=Love, whether it comes from a dad or a boyfriend/husband”.
I’m happier living small and within our means as a SAHM, rather than having a huge house, fancy cars, and nannies to take care of everything, and I hope my girls get that message…………..
4. Rita said:
March 21, 2008 @ 8:36 am
So, we watched Enchanted last night. It’s that Disney movie where the animated fairy tale people pop up through the sewer in NYC? It was cute. I hate Disney. I loathe Disney. I feel dirty and like I need to go get absolved by a hippie after I watch anything Disney.
But, this was cute, and very appropriate to this subject. It had all the Disney elements, and then kind of tore them apart. So, if you’ve ever seen a movie, you can figure out pretty quickly how it’s going to end, but if you’re like my 9 y.o., then it’s quite shocking.
It was nice to see them make a small attempt to undo all the years of damage they’ve done. Now, if only they can fix how they mutilated Peter Pan and put the right ending on The Little Mermaid and just take give Winnie the Pooh back to the people, then they might be OK.