Feminist Friday: Stickers are Sexless

These books have been staring at me for the past couple of weeks and taunting me. Blondie Boy loves stickers, LOVES stickers, so I see sticker books that are relatively inexpensive and I want to buy them for him but you see I can't. I can't because in my honest opinion these stickers books are sexist. How can sticker books be sexist you say? Well grab yourself something to drink and settle in and I'll tell you.

Now I understand some of you might be thinking "what's the big deal?" Well the big deal is gender stereotyping is not okay. Blondie Boy loves trucks and cars but he also loves giraffes, hearts, puppy dogs and fairies (specifically one Miss Abby Cadabby but more on her another time). I hear you 'no big deal' folks saying "Fine just get him the girl's book." That isn't the point. Why do the books even need to be "boy's" and "girl's"? I know Blondie Boy has colouring and sticker books called "big book of cars" or "animals" so why the need to define with boy and girl?


In playing into culturally constructed norms of what either sex should like or be these books are subtly chipping away at our children's identities. Yes, I'm going to take it THAT far because there will be some little boy who goes to get a sticker book and reaches for the copy with giraffes, fairies and ponies only to be told, no that is the girl's book. That little child will have to compromise who they are and what they like because some marketing genius has decided what is for boys and what is for girls and slapped the label on sticker books accordingly.


In my opinion there are no such things are girls things and boys things as far as toys and playthings are concerned. Yes our external and internal genitalia do differentiate male from female but last time I checked most children's toys don't actually require a penis or a vulva/vagina so really why are toys marked as boy and girl? Physically and mentally boys and girls can play with the exact same toys so there is no need to market them as sex specific. Let children choose on their own what they want to play with and enjoy.


I like to buy toys that Blondie Boy would like but as much as he might like either of those colouring books I will not buy them. We have to buck the "snips and snails" versus "sugar and spice" dichotomy or it will just continue. 


At Cybher last Saturday I said to me being a feminist blogger means not shutting up. So I'm not going to shut up. I'll rant about sticker books and anything else that pisses me off and if even one person reads my rants and it makes them think differently then I think I've done my job. Things can't change if you don't let anyone know things are wrong.

Feminist Friday XIII: Television

I think anyone who's watched tv ever can have something to say about how sexist it is. Music videos, reality tv, hell even the BBC---you don't have to look hard to see the patriarchal influences on your screen. How many of you think about if what your toddlers watch is sexist? I sure as hell didn't until I chose this theme.

All Blondie Boy watches in Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He loves it. He points out Mickey and friends when we are out and about and you've never seen his little face light up so much when you give him something with Mickey's image on it. Don't even get me started on how ridiculously cute it is when he gets up to do the Hot Dog Dance. We love Mickey Mouse so please as you read this know I don't have an axe to grind with Disney--I'm just trying to look at what my son watches from a feminist vantage point.

I was thinking about all the various episodes I've seen over and over and I couldn't think of any overtly sexist storylines. I was tweeting to Ellen about it and she asked if Toodles was a woman--I could see where she was going with this since Toodles is at their beck and call--but NotBlondeHusband pointed out Toodles was created by the Professor and "he's here for meedles and youdles." As NotBlondeHusband and I drove down the M77 towards Ayrshire though we realized while the mouse might not be overtly sexist, he wasn't completely free of patriarchal control.

Take a look at the female characters on the show: Minnie, Daisy and Clarabelle. They all wear high heels and they all wear bows. Donald doesn't even wear pants let alone shoes, but Daisy is always in heels walking around "like Marilyn Monroe in dress that's too tight" as NotBlondeHusband described it.  When the gang goes on a treasure hunt Goofy hopes it's stickers, but Minnie hopes it's handbags. So maybe Mickey Mouse Clubhous isn't overtly sexist it's certainly perpetuating gender stereotypes.

Maybe it's accidental, maybe it's a deliberate marketing decision to sell more pink branded items but whether direct or indirect, what kind of message is it sending? Am I going to stop Blondie Boy watching his favourite show? No, but it will make me question what he does watch in the future more closely.

What about the shows your children watch? How do they portray boys and girls? Men and women? Males and females?

Feminist Friday XIII: Television

Here's how it works. Write a blog about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of the theme for the week. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.


That's it.


You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.


When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 4 days.


Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.


The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

Feminist Friday VII: Gender Roles

If you read my Pretty in Pink post then the opinions expressed in this post will come as no surprise to you. My inspiration for the theme this week came after my best friend sent me an article about a Canadian couple who are keeping their youngest child's sex a secret so they can be "unconstrained by social norms about males and female." I'll be honest, I didn't make it through the whole article, but my take on it can be summed up quite easily:


There is a big difference between raising a genderless child and raising a child free of gender stereotypes. I would hope and aim to raise Blondie Boy free of gender stereotypes.


He's too young to make decisions based on stereotypes now himself and I won't force or allow others to force stereotypes on him.  If he wants to play with what society tells us are "boy's toys", so be it, and if he wants to play with what society tells us are "girl's toys", then that's fine too.  We don't think about gender when we buy him toys and, to be honest, I'm pretty sure he has more pink tops than he does blue.


If when he's old enough to ask for gifts and ask for a Disney princess dress-up outfit he is more than welcome to it, but in the same way I'm not going to buy him a tutu just in case.  Children should be free to be who they are and play what they want to play with without society telling them they are right or wrong.


We've visited a friend's house and Blondie Boy decided he wanted to push around a pink baby doll pram; my friend chuckled "what would NotBlondeHusband say if he saw that." He wouldn't care. She replied her husband wouldn't be happy if it was her son.  Now if her husband's disapproval was real or just for show I don't know. What is so offensive about a boy pushing a pink baby pram? Would it be as offensive if it was a little girl playing football?


Anyone who knows me will know that I love make-up, the color pink, ribbons, glitter and baking; but I'm adult and those are things I've chosen to like. Do they fall into gender stereotypes of women? Yes. NotBlondeHusband will also point out that I don't ever cook and I rate burps on a 5 point scale: things that you'd probably pin as male gender stereotypes.


Blondie Boy loves to sing and dance, cuddle stuffed animals, play with cars, build towers, read books, climb, run, colour and a whole other host of things. I don't see any of these as being things he should or shouldn't do because he's a boy--these are just things he likes to do and I will always support and encourage his interests. 


I'm not suggesting you need to encourage your children to rebel against gender stereotypes, but what I am saying is if my child chooses to rebel against what society says is normal I will support him. Our DNA doesn't tell us what is suitable for boys and for girls, it is society that creates cultural norms and correct me if I'm wrong but culture isn't always right.


So I'm proud my little boy shakes his booty to Lady Gaga and equally as proud of the massive Duplo towers he builds.  He's my little boy and I'm happy as long as he is being himself.

Gender Roles

Here's how it works. Write a blog post about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of being a feminist mom based or the theme for the week. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.


That's it.


You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.


When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 4 days.


Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.


The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!

Feminist Friday v.VII: Gender Roles

My best friend forwarded me this article today about a couple in Canada who are keeping the sex of their third child a secret and it inspired me for this week's theme. One of my biggest pet peeves is when the terms "sex" and "gender" are used interchangeably--they aren't the same thing.  Sex (whether you are male or female) is biologically determined and gender (masculine or feminine) is culturally constructed. It's not DNA that means little boys play with trucks and little girls with dolls, it's culture. 


So this week I want to know your stories, opinions, point-of-view on gender roles.  Are you or would you raise a genderless child? Do you challenge or conform to gender stereotypes?  Write about whatever you want as long as it falls under the theme of gender roles.

The Friday Feminist Mom Round up

Here's how it works. Write a blog about being a feminist mom, raising a feminist child, a rant or anything that falls under the realm of being a feminist mom. Come back and link your post and post the button on your blog.


That's it.


You don't even have to be a blogger to take part - just send me your post and I will publish it on my blog for you. You don't even have to include your name if you prefer.


When you've published it, come back on Friday and via a widget thing you can add a link to your post and share it with everyone. The link remains open for 4 days.


Visit others, comment if you like them or feel inspired by them. Just go out and encourage and support other feminist Moms.


The more support you give, the more you will get back! I can't wait to meet and interact with other feminist moms around the world!