Cinderella Ate My Daughter
Peggy Orenstein
Peggy Orenstein is asking the correct questions when she asked "What do the toys we give our girls, the pinkness in which they are steeped, tell us about what we are telling them? What do they say about who we think they are and ought to be?
I believe it all starts with the parents as I have mentioned in previous blog Generation M. While the media and marketing tactics do influence children on what toys they "want" ultimately, the parents are the ones that purchase the toys the children play with. The parents are the ones that teach children what is considered to be an appropriate "girl" or "boy" toy, behavior, clothes. So yes, I do believe like Orenstein that nature is truly dominant over media when it comes to influencing kids.
I was never really into dolls, I was considered a "tomboy" growing up, therefor I stayed clear of dolls, especially Barbie dolls. Not because I thought it would send a message to my daughter but because I knew that the expense would not stop there. Unfortunately, my sister bought my daughter her first Barbie doll and of course she wanted the house, the car, the jeep etc.....Luckily by the time I had my second daughter all traces of Barbie were gone. My second daughter has never asked for any type of doll and I now wonder is it because I never asked or because she had older brothers and enjoyed playing with their toys?
As far as Disney Princess goes, they are just now at age 19 and 13 watching the remakes of the Disney Princess movies. Again, I did not encourage what type of movies they should watch. If they asked if they could watch a movie and I felt it was appropriate they were allowed. They did watch Disney movies but not the ones specifically about Princesses.
The color pink is also a color I did encourage my daughter's to wear. I let them pick out their own clothes since the age of 3 when they started pre-school. The only time I asked them to dress nice was when we had a formal function and the holidays but I never called them a "Princess". I don't wear a lot of makeup either so they don't particularly care for makeup either.
Therefore, People need to stop putting the blame on media and companies and take responsibility for any insecurities their children might feel. Companies and the media are not going to stop producing the toys and showing "sexy" advertising if we as consumer continue to buy the products. And if we do allow our daughters to play with these products and see the movies, we need to make sure they know it's not real, it's all a fantasy. Teach them to love themselves for who they are and how they look. I known it's easier said than done but it needs to start at home.
Found "If Princess Were Real" to be quite entertaining.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOnfwEuA3GI
I agree that we must teach them to love themselves and by just letting them know that that's not how the real world actually is it will help out. Like in the article when the moms said they let their daughters play as princesses so they can feel pretty because that's important in our society, I personally don't think that's the way to go. Like you said talking to them in the home helps a lot and will let them be aware and exposed beforehand.
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