Is Nothing Sacred?
January 29, 2010
This was via Feministing:
A pink Ouija board for girls.
Seriously.
It comes with a pink carrying case and 72 question cards because I presume girls can't think up questions on their own. One of those gems? "Who will call/text me next?"
Look, I like variety. Lots of colours are nice. And I liked pink as a kid too. And I have a pink iPod case now.
But no one needs a fucking pink Ouija board.
When I was a kid, I was hesitant to use our Ouija board because it didn't look authentic enough. It was light and the planchette was plastic. Who the fuck is gonna contact an awesome dead spirit on something like that? I wanted some century old wood thing with creepy symbols. Atmosphere, people!
You know what else? I took my brand new Book of Shadows as a kid (shut up, I was doing my wicca phase) and stained all the pages with tea. And I wrote in it ONLY with a calligraphy pen. AND the stupid tea ruined the binding, but I didn't *care* because this kind of stuff has to look cool and old.
There is no need to gender Ouija boards. Anyone wanting to contact the dead doesn't need the Barbie version.
Also, I'm pretty sure girls can come up with questions on their own. They don't need a stack of cards. Now, I grant you, we *may* ask something along the lines of, "What boy likes me?" BUT we also ask stuff like, "How did you die?" and "Will that stupid girl at school fall and break her neck?" and "Would you be willing to join my army of dead people in exchange for the souls of my enemies?"
(Shut up--I'm sure plenty of kids ask that.)
This kind of shit freaks me out as a future parent because it's not just Ouija boards--anything for girls has pink slapped on it and it's bullshit stuff. Lego? Boys get cool sets of stuff to build, girls pink and purple stable/horse sets. Now, horses are fine and I'm very pro-horse. But there is nothing wired into a girl's DNA that says she needs a pony and English riding lessons. Give me Lego pirate ship or a castle any day.
Rissa on Twitter complained the other night that her son wanted an Easy Bake Oven but it had girls on the box and it was in the girls' section. You know what? Her son should be able to get a non-gendered Easy Bake Oven! Boys should learn basic cooking skills too and a whole other market could open up if they sold these things to ALL kids.
Tangentially related, this commercial made me pull my hair out:
Folks, it's not the1950's. I fully support stay-at-home mom's, but I also support stay-at-home dad's and it bothers me immensely that little girls are getting the message that their dreams must include a lame cottage where all they do is cook, do laundry, and raise babies. Why are there no baby dolls aimed at boys? Shouldn't we encourage all kids to be nurturing and responsible, like we should be encouraging all kids to learn to cook for themselves and enjoy food preparation? (Which tends to lead to healthier eating.)
Is there a cabin in the woods or island somewhere where I can raise my kids to have aspirations beyond what toy companies think they should want out of life? No? Damn.
Well, there will be NO pink, girly Ouija board in my house. We'll find something authentic with dried blood on it from a seance gone bad.
I'm going to be an awesome parent.
Comments
#1 Worse than anything on
Worse than anything on television (because you can limit that and watch commercial-free stations like Noggin/Nick Jr. or DVDs) is the inane garbage they hear from other kids at school.
My daughter, who lived four years surrounded by ME, came home from school the other day and informed me that boys are stronger than girls. My husband sat back holding in the laughter as I tried to collect myself enough to explain in 4-yr-old terms how that's completely untrue. (I may or may not have told her that boys only need to believe that to make themselves feel better.) (I'm totally Mother-of-the-Year material, right here.)
She also informed me that girls wear dresses and boys wear pants, which led to a fascinating discussion of Drag Queens... with my 4-yr-old. I think my mother suddenly felt mortified from miles away and wasn't sure why.
Gender stereotypes are everywhere. I think all you can do is teach kids to question everything, correct misinformation when it arises, and wallpaper their rooms with posters of feminist mantras.
At least, that's my plan. (plus a substantial therapy fund for having to be raised by me)
#2 Absolutely--I want to limit
Absolutely--I want to limit the exposure my kids have to television/commercials until they're able to have simple talks about it, and then we'll watch things and analyze them. I was raised to think independently and question things (even my mum--lucky her), so I'll do the same. Am half anticipating the following: "Mummy, a boy at school said boys are stronger than girls." Me: "And what did you say to that?" JH: "I'm punched him." Me: "Violence isn't really the answer, sweetheart." JH: "But there weren't any questions." Me: "That's my girl."
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