Predictably, my request for a Barbie free Christmas was met with protest and indignation, though well meaning. It seems my political agenda is preventing my daughter from having the well-rounded girl’s childhood marketer’s intended. It’s only a doll, after all. And yes, I do let my daughter have other “girly” things, so why not Barbie Millicent Roberts? When Barbie hit the scene in 1959, she was an independent lady. She bought her own cars and homes. She had boyfriends, but was not married, and she had several interesting careers. When I look at today’s store shelves I see a lot of princess themed Barbie dolls, but nothing else. Barbie’s official site offers other careers. What really scares me is how media already controls so…
A response to unwanted parenting advice and shout out to progressive thinkers
Posts tagged “self-esteem”
There is a lot of easy-to-find information out there on how Western media negatively affects females (which will be the topic of next week’s post in the series). The negative affects on males, specifically, are harder to find. Media Smarts reports this is partly due to males not being as open as females. This feeling of guarded nonchalance is partly because of the constant media message that “real men” don’t care. They are either the fat and lazy guy too dumb to care or the macho manly man who is too cool to care. Therefore, despite, “A study by the UK National Health Service found that hospital admissions for men with eating disorders had risen by two-thirds between 2001 and 2011,” reported by Media…
Categories: A lil more serious, Media
Education, sexualized ponies and “The Homo Secret Within Your Children’s Minds”: Part Two
Misfit Matriarch
Posted on October 11, 2011
Strawberry Shortcake, The Care Bears and My Little Pony have shed pounds to stay hip. Though it is unhealthy to be obese, it is perfectly healthy to hammer it home to the kiddos that thin is perfection. With thinner bears and ponies running around, let’s make them hot. Elongate their legs and eyelashes. Why leave low self-esteem up to images on TV, billboards, magazine covers, posters, bus sides (and some steamy real estate ads here in Whitby)? The New York Times‘s Brooks Barnes wrote about these characters makeovers in a 2008 article. Spawning a clever reflection by Andi Zeisler with Bitch Magazine. Childhood obesity is on the rise, I’m not saying that’s fantastic. Nor is taking my childhood cartoons and making them fierce. There must…
Categories: Media
