While there are many things that irk me, about which I am unapologetically vocal, there are very few things that bother me as much as the extreme gender-pigeonholing of the little people. From such an early age, little girls are taught to be princesses and little boys are given very few options of their own.
Now I'd like to start by saying that I am equally as annoyed by both gender stereotypes. As the mother of a little boy who loves baking and flowers, dancing and messing in the garden, as much as he enjoys blasting his Nerf gun and playing with cars, it drives me nuts that certain fun elements of childhood are so marketed toward girls. Why on earth is every kitchen set aimed at girls?! My son loved his kitchen more than almost any other toy he had; we only sold it because we moved.They are getting a little bit better at making the big kitchen toys a bit more gender-neutral, which is more realistic anyway because, let's face it, how many houses do you know with a room the shade of Pepto Bismol?
But still most kitchens are aimed at girls. There are girls all over the box, there are frills everywhere. And take the Easy Bake Oven...just for fun, go Google it. Pink galore. And while pink and frills are perfectly valid options for a little boy to choose, the girls plastered all over the marketing make it clear: this is a girl's toy. Despicable, truly despicable. I could go through the justification of many top chefs being male, but that is really beside the point.
As I see it, there are two main reasons for marketing kitchens and their paraphernalia to both genders, besides the sheer equality of the thing. For one, the little people love imitating the doings of the big people. Thus the popularity of kiddie brooms (also usually pink) and kiddie vacuums (ditto), the need for watching what you say around children, etc. The second is that cooking is such a vital, enjoyable part of daily life that it should be encouraged in all children. The same goes for gardening, particularly as it relates to growing food. We are so divorced from the vital, simplistic processes of daily living, and our children are suffering for it.
As for girls, from day one they are being bombarded by the princess experience. They are told they are princesses, every item of clothing has princesses or flowers or butterflies, and all products marketed to them have princesses on them. There are no pink-and-white striped onesies with firetrucks on them, no purple toddler tees with space rockets or police cars, no frilly shirts with footballs or baseballs.
I'm sure there are some, but even after researching this on some major retailers' websites, I still return an abundance of "sweet", "lovable", and "good girl" tees; cats and owls abound; and there are a disturbing number of food-related shirts. The cars and robots of the boys section are lacking, and when they do make something of an effort it is an epic fail: in the boys section, there are mini replica jerseys from various popular NFL teams; in the girls section there are a series of pink jerseys sans player's name, sans player's number, and with a team name just scrawled across the top. Same font each time, same design each time, and it looks nothing like an actual jersey.
No, they are taught to be princesses, to be divas. We are perpetuating the sitting pretty stereotype, decade after decade, just regurgitating it in new ways. And the worse part is, by telling little girls constantly that they should aspire to be princesses, we are raising big girls who act like princesses. We end up with tweens and who act entitled. And a princess is not something we can aspire to be; there are very few people in this world who get to be princesses, and most of the real princesses spend their time working with charities (something noble to aspire to), not prancing around their castles with wands and tiaras.
Being cute or precious is just not a good enough goal for an entire generation of women. There are millions of women in the armed forces, the police force, the various divisions of rescue workers; that is something to strive for. There are millions more in the government, the peace corp, in international business; that, too, is something to emulate. Children of both sexes love dressing up as doctors, as astronauts, as pirates, superheroes; so put these on little girls' shirts. Let's market these things to our girls.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the Little Mermaid as much as the next little girl but it wasn't because she was a princess, it was because she was half human-half fish; that is awesome. You could have just as easily sold my seven-year-old self on a centaur. Half man, half beast equals awesomeness. Every time. But this whole Disney Princess fever is nauseating. I thought this piece, "Don't Call Me Princess", really sums it up well.
And as for our boys, slap some flowers on those shirts, clothing companies! Seriously, what little kid (regardless of gender) doesn't love dirt? Thus, gardening and flowers are a no-brainer. Not frilly flowers, sure, but stuff growing out of terracota flowerpots, vegetables growing out of the earth, sunflowers......"manly" it up a bit if you want, but allow these boys to enjoy the garden. Allow them to enjoy dancing---boys love grooving their little bodies around as much as girls do. And sparkle, glitter, those kinds of shiny fabulousness are eye-catching to all the little people....because they are fun. Put glitter on those boys' shirts. Give them sparkly pirate tees and robot sweaters.
Preschoolers like a little pizzazz.
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