Diversify Disney - please support this campaign

[VanessaPMR]

oimissus Wrote:

>

> D'you know what worries me more, as a mother of a

> girl? Things like a recent thread on Mumsnet,

> where, because a teacher failed to discipline some

> jeering boys properly, girls who had been doing

> handstands in the playground and thus their

> knickers were briefly on show were told to go

> inside and put shorts on under their frocks. That

> makes my blood boil. Primary-aged girls being

> taught that it's up to them to modify their

> clothing and/or behaviour because boys can't be

> expected to. And the number of women on that

> thread who supported this made me even angrier.

> Because it's only a hop, skip and a jump to that

> NHS poster doing the rounds suggesting that if a

> drunk woman is raped, it's her fault for being

> drunk.

>

I agree 100% with you Oimissus, but you know the first thing that struck me about your story?

Why are primary girls required to wear skirts in the first place? Why cant they get to wear trousers if they so chose? Clothing that would allow them stand on their hands all day without showing their pants? Clothing that would protect their knees from scuffs and scratches..clothing that is superior to active play?

Call me a soft hearted idealist...you wont be the first...but I'd like a system for my girl to be a child first and foremost...she has a lifetime of restrictions of what constitutes acceptable/desirable/appropriate female behaviour ahead of her..alas.

I'm just trying to call foul on what I see as anachronistic, often unconscious, preconceptions of what is good gendered behaviour.

And while I think we should all be free to choose what we want to do as adults, we owe our children a more careful and considered assessment of the junk we push down their throats in the guise of 'play' and 'entertainment'.. looking at you Disney toy stores. Disney have got better but for some reason seem to revert to their old ways if the pressure isnt kept up (so underscoring the importance of the OP's campaign), see the following regarding their back tracking on the sexualisation of Merida: http://jezebel.com/disney-exec-defends-brave-princess-meridas-makeover-508465393

Also, to get back to the OP, negative racial stereotyping is an issue in Disney's products http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jan/16/abigail-disney-meryl-streep-racism-sexism and we also need to resolve the comparative abscence of black and asian children in children's books.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/04/first-black-childrens-laureate-malorie-blackman

[VanessaPMR]

Sorry Oimissus, I didnt mean to direct all that post to you necessarily, just the first part about children's school uniforms.. right better get back to work.. ;-\