Strollerderby : girl power

What About the Boys?

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:31:00 GMT

A recent study debunks the myth that all the progress made by girls in the past 20-30 years has come at the expense of boys.

But some parents of boys still have worries...

It is good news that whatever strides are made by girls in the sciences, in sports, and in other arenas previously dominated by boys aren't made at the expense of boys. Still parents grapple with what is left for their boys? Stereotypes and assumptions about trucks and cars? As a mother of girls, I'm very clear that my task is teaching strength, independence, and how fun math can be.

What is the primary task of parents of boys?

As the lovely Sassafrass describes her struggle with competitive gender-centric parenting, she concludes with this lovely thought:

My boy happens to be verbal and sensitive and nurturing. He also loves cars and trucks and dinosaurs and t-ball. He often wears my necklaces and he inevitably has a scrape on his knee and bruise on his shin. Where he falls among the girl and boy characteristics, I could care less.

It would be great if we eventually lived in a gender-blind culture. But for now, that dream seems far far away...

Target Sells Boys Powertools, Girls Purple Crap

Madeline Holler — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:51:00 GMT

I'm in the middle of "Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes," which I know is sooooo last year (I'm behind on my reading). So perhaps my knees had been primed to jerk just as this half-catalog/half-circular from Target, featuring all their new spring stuff for kids, showed up in the mail today. I had initially thrown it aside, but then I noticed a $5 coupon. I started flipping.

By about Page 4, I get perturbed. There's a girl watering flowers on the front cover, which is no biggie. Fifty-fifty chance, right? Someone has to water the flowers. On the inside front cover, there's a boy flying a plane. Fine. A boy can like planes.

Next page is sports equipment: the boys are playing on a green field. Girls are cut out on white background -- one's fake-swinging a pink tennis racket, another fake-flinging a pink lacrosse stick, the third is standing up straight and giggling, a pink softball glove perched awkwardly on her hand. ("Gah, what am I supposed to do with this thing?")

Next page: boy flying a remote control helicopter, girl standing across from him with her hands up in surrender, her mouth a perfect circle as if she is saying "ooooooo, Jack, you're really good at that!" Lower on the page, a girl is freaked out by a remote control spider, which takes its commands from a capable but fun-loving (you guessed it) boy.

Flip! A rousing game of something called swingball. Only boys are swinging at the ball. The girls stand in their precious spring dresses and watch. But they're smiling, so they must be having fun anyway.

Flip that page and there's a girl! In an activity! A jumping thing! Way to go, sister!

Annnnnd, the next page: a boy on a cool tear'em up bike, a girl on a super pretty purple bike (with delicate butterflies snapped on to the spokes ... looks too pretty to ride, Mom!)

Then: T-ball, boy. And a next page of character crap. No kids pictured.

I know, quit your bitching. And I can! Because girls are finally represented in the crap-a-log. The next six pages are loaded with girls in all kinds of activities: playing with dolls in a perfect. girly appointed room, taking a stuffed cat out of a pet purse, mixing drinks at the Hannah Montana surf shop, going online with Bratz dolls, having a combined camp-out/princess tea party in the pink tent and dressed in Disney princess costumes.

Awwww, look at that little girl feeding her baby, and now there's a page of girls crafting out! The boys pages come next, with pirates, Spiderman kites, cowboy sheets, Hot Wheels, Pokeman and video games (though the gender balance on video games is equal, if you count using a bionic eye to look at a butterfly not too girly -- at least she wasn't searching for unicorns).

Flip and flip: A boy plays the guitar, a girl works on her letters. A boy loads the race car, a girl wears fake jewelry. A boy plays with trains. A girl, well, she vacuums. Boy has workbench and fake power tools. Girl has melting polar ice-caps, the alphabet and a cute-but-vapid stare.

And on, and on, and on. Not a single gender-role swap in the entire 51-page piece. Not even a token boy in a girl thing, girl in a boy thing. Any "gender neutral" toys mostly didn't have a boy OR a girl interacting with them. Only the item was pictured.

The message is this: boys play, girls watch, unless boys aren't around, then girls play -- but only with soft, sparkly purple/pink things they can nurture, beautify or use to tidy up the house.

Hey, I'm not saying girls don't play with dolls. Or boys don't like power tools. But does it have to be to the exclusion of everything else? Can't Target just pretend to placate moms like me? Can't they even try? Maybe a girl holding a train and a boy watching a girl swing a pink tennis racket? Out of 51 pages, just one such picture will do.

Photo: princessproduction.wordpress.com

Teens Don’t Go to Homecoming: One Father’s Lament

Madeline Holler — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 21:07:00 GMT

I can only read this as good news: teens no longer go to Homecoming dances.

I think the asinine and completely outdated habits these types of traditions hold on to are worth tossing out. Teens seem to agree. Across the country – even in conservative, heartland cities like Wichita, Kan. -- schools are canceling the dances due to a lack of interest or attendance.

But this Wall Street Journal writer and father of three girls is deeply saddened by the lost tradition, the waning chivalry, the new “cool” status bestowed on those who opt not to go. He blames hot-blooded, freak-dancing teens who left school officials with no other choice but to ban the dances or the dancing. He blames the “easy” girls who, he hints, are luring the boys away.

His poor daughter and her friends! They only wanted to show off their news dresses, their fancy hairstyles, themselves – but their dates decided that very evening not to go. These damn boys left them with no other choice but to not attend the dance!

Teachable moment, Daddy. You can remind your daughter that, if she’s so hell-bent on going, she can go with her friends. She can go by herself! Give her the keys to the minivan! Tell her to be home by midnight! Tell her to girl-up and decide right there whether she's going to move with the pack or without them, social conventions or not.

Don’t blame the sluts, sir, for the fact that your daughter kept her mouth shut when, while parents were taking pictures of the dressed-up teens, she decided to go along with not going to the dance. Blame whomever gave her the idea that Daddy (and his substitutes) know best.

Photo: www.nicoleshow.com

Naughty or Nice? Who Cares? Lingerie Dolls Are A Perfect Holiday Gift

Madeline Holler — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:03:00 GMT

I am super excited about the just-mailed Victoria’s Secret holiday catalogue because it’s going to make “Santa’s” job so much easier when it comes to gifts for my daughters. I have been wondering how to get my older one more interested in her appearance and the sexy, sexy things that are out there for her to experiment with, feel pretty in, those things that will help her upgrade from just girl to an even better girly-girl.

I mean, right now her response to bras is giggles, maybe a rousing chant of “boobs, boobs!” with her little sister, so I’d like to find a way to get her to take it more seriously. After all, she’s going to be seven years old soon.

Enter: the VS Pink label, and especially these plush dress-up dolls!

Described as “plush and pretty plaything for the ultimate girly-girl. Comes with two interchangeable outfits: lingerie and a dress,” interchangeable, I suppose, because when you’re wearing one, surely you’re not wearing the other! Sizzle.

Just get her a Barbie, you say? She has those. Whatever. Barbie isn’t going to get her celebrating her (non-existent) sexuality any more than Mattel’s other pink and purple toys, you know? How’s Barbie going to get her comfortable in a AAAA push-up and tiny-heiny thong in time for school pictures next year? (Yes, she'll wear something over them, I just want her to feel scandalously pretty.) See, I figure interacting with her plush girly-girl VS doll -- slipping on the tiny bras or stripping her down for a late-night tickle fight -- she’s opening her mind to the Victoria’s Secret brand, a company that works to demonstrate how girls really look and how they love to (mis)behave (wink!). Having fun with the soft, happy dolls -- with their youthful hairstyles and adolescent proportions -- could help take some of the “for women only” notions surrounding Victoria’s Secret, and skimpy bras and underwear in general, out of her pretty (and pre-sexy) little head. Together, they’ll usher her into the tender, mysterious phase that, seriously, has been put off far too long. Why wait for actual breasts when you can create them with push-up gel bras in fun, party colors? Quit revealing your high-waisted, floral, combed-cotton spanky pants! These low-rise, high-cut bikini’s will lengthen those 6X legs better than any pair of stilettos. When she’s a little bigger,she'll eat up the panties packaged as lollipops and ice-cream cones! Lickably sweet!

If girls just understood that underneath it all, they’re fun, playful, sexy, girly-girls who love nothing more than putting on and taking of big satiny microfiber undies, I wouldn’t have to spend $15 each on the Victoria’s Secret dolls. But I will, because I get it.

Whatever it takes, you know? Whatever it takes.

Chinese Girl Swims River With Feet and Hands Bound

Madeline Holler — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 18:41:00 GMT

Hey, I thought they stopped binding feet in China a while ago.

This week, a Hunan father tied up his eight-year-old daughter's arms and legs and tossed her in the Xiang River for a three-hour swim. He says his daughter swam like a dolphin, covered a mile and loved it the whole time.

She is training to swim the English Channel, a goal she is desperate to achieve, her father (a teacher and self-made trainer) said. The dolphin-style swimming practice was his idea, and he assures everyone who condemned the feat/feet that she was never in danger since he was swimming next to her the entire time.

(Side note: Am I the only one thinking fondly of Patrick Duffy’s swimming techniques in the tragically unacclaimed late-70s/early-80s television series “The Man from Atlantis”?)

Back to the girl: English Channel administration is pretty much saying “over our Coast Guard’s dead body" regarding (1) swimming with bound limbs in English waters and (2) anyone under 16 years old swimming the Channel for an official record.

That’s bad news for yet another eight-year-old girl, this one from India, who is also training to swim the 21-mile stretch of choppy waters, which also happens to be the world’s busiest shipping lane.

How many other eight-year-olds are training to swim these marathon distances? I'm getting the impression that my kids are lazy.

Photo: Daily Mail

Disney: Mean To Girls For Ages

Kelly Mills — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:27:00 GMT

Ever since my kid could say, "I wuv Sweeping Beauwty" she's been getting the ~~strident~~ friendly mom-with-a-women's-studies-background blather about how the Disney princesses should just save themselves and why are they so passive? I came down as pro-Mulan early on, which led to some discussions about how girls have historically been excluded and isn't that weird and that's why Mulan had to pretend she was a boy to fight in the army. As a result, my kid now claims sexual equality is measured by the fact that girls can fight in battles. Sigh.

But look, Disney has had a long legacy of being not-so-nice to chicks, and this letter from 1938 is an interesting example, via boing boing. Miss Ford got turned down for animator training school because she was female. I guess if we look at the stationary, it's clear a woman's purpose is to be leered at by seven creepy, dirty little guys, not for the tough man's work of drawing shit. Even the woodland creatures agree.

Pink Balls For Girls

Kelly Mills — Sat, 05 May 2007 12:10:00 GMT

Thank you Title IX! Target has come out with a line of pink sporting goods like mitts, volleyballs, and basketballs. Presumably these are designed for girls, or boys who are comfortable enough with themselves to adopt a rosier approach to athleticism.

On first glance, it might be tempting to hate on this stuff as going with the stereotype. Why do girls get everything marketed to them as princess pink fairy lacy frou frou? But I look at this equipment, and I see a nice revolution. If a girl is in the oh-so-common pink phase, she might like having a ball that appeals to her color love, and therefore be more into trying a sport. And my long range hope is that with more and more girls participating in athletic endeavors, we'll see some serious improvements in the current palette of black-red-orange-forest green-white-gold that dominates most sports. Where's the lavender? The bronze? The aquamarine? The sky blue? (Note: don't send me examples of pro sports teams that use these colors, because they are the exception rather than the norm.) Maybe we'll start seeing some uniforms that aren't an ugly blend of two colors that shouldn't go together. Down with man colors! Grrrl power!

Besides, being a feminist athlete doesn't mean you can't accessorize well or wear something bright. Tennis has had well-known women players for ages, and even though white ruled the sport for a long time, I love some of the newer ensembles. And when we bought this pink mitt for my daughter's T-ball season, it was a big hit on the field. Kids begged for a chance to use it. Interestingly, some of the boys did refuse to borrow it even though they had forgotten their own mitts and would have to catch bare-handed. Time to come around, young sons, and get comfortable with "girl" colors. You'll be seeing a lot more of us with our hot pink and lavender mitts on the field in the future.

11 Year Old Girl Stops Sick Mom's Van. Girls Rule!

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:37:00 GMT

Earlier today an 11 year old girl stopped her family's van when it veered out of control after her mother went into a diabetic coma. I'll admit to a little gender bias when I danced around and yelled "GIRLS RULE!!!!" when I heard this on the news.

11 year old Abigail Parker took control of what could have been a tragic situation. When her mother started driving erratically, Abigail climbed into her mother's lap, stopped the van, calmed her brother, and dialed 911. Now THAT is multi-tasking, my friends. That is some kick ass courage and presence of mind for a wee 11 year old.

Girls rule!!