A few brief recent observations about girls and how we raise them...
1. Niceness. "Smile!" - Now, I counsel both my boy and girl to strive to be nice people. But there is nice and there is "Nice" - the oppressive concept that girls and women must subjugate their own needs for the needs of others.
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| I think this probably comes from a place of "let's make it less about looks," but it carries its own problems. |
2. How you dress a child has an impact on how they play and grow and view themselves. No, seriously. Really. So pretty please dress your girls and boys to move and play and climb and make mud pies and grow. It's just as important as green veggies. Maybe more so.
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| I like Old Navy. But these toddler girls look clearly movement-hampered by their "skinny" jeans. That has an impact on how they can move, play, and grow. |
3. Toys Matter. We all know that, right (definitely read that last one)? They are about practicing to be grown-up and learning things and exploring the world. And we are failing both our boys and girls when we teach them that gender is paramount. Not to turn your gut, but here goes:
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| From - http://www.change.org/petitions/target-stop-segregating-your-toy-aisles |
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| From - http://www.sparksummit.com/2012/02/02/toy-aisle-action-project-lets-make-shoppers-think/ |
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| From - http://mayakimora.wordpress.com |
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| From - http://sociology101cibjnf.blogspot.com/2011/04/gender.html |
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| From - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/opinion/sunday/gender-based-toy-marketing-returns.html |
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| Words in girl toys. |
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| Words in boy toys. |
4. Here, feel a bit better:
- And also.
...And one of my favorite sites, A Mighty Girl.
I don't know whether to be relieved I'm having another boy so I won't have to deal with omnipresent peptobismol pink everywhere, or disappointed that I can't be one tiny voice against that.
ReplyDeleteBecause having children is about making political and social statements. :>
Thanks Emily; this depresses me too quite often.
ReplyDeleteI liked this list:
http://www.amightygirl.com/mighty-girl-picks/top-read-alouds?p=1
I have read a lot of those books (particularly the ones published before 1995, but many after), but here is a glaring omission. Tamora Pierce has always written strong girl characters (and strong boy ones too!), but many of them are for middle-teens and late-teens, so perhaps that is why they were not included on the blog link above.
Tamora is also part of "Sheroes", which is pertinent to this discussion:
http://www.sheroescentral.com/Welcome.html
Thanks for bringing up this topic!
Hey, the world needs more awesome boys, you are doing your part, Beadgirl :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Abby! I'll look into her books :-)