Sunday, March 24, 2013

#7


Ok so what can I say about the reading by Peggy Orenstein. I guess I can say that her reading is about the influences on children from the image of princesses. as a boy growing up, something like this seems normal to me. All of the girls would be pink crazy and trying to look like the princess from the new Disney movie that came out at the time whether it was Cinderella or another princess. This is what Orenstein talks about, it’s the image or products that is spreading nationwide of pink toys, or magical sparkly make-up or dresses. Orenstein thinks this is constricting the girls self-image.
I don’t think she is wrong with the idea of a girls self-image being constricted. Not everything news to be pink and magical, which kind of relates to the Brave; she doesn't want to be girly she wants to be free and maybe a little ruff. I also think that Cinderella ate my daughter is directed to parents as well because yess as a young age girls do want to be magical and girly but it is because of their parents as well for forcing this into watching all the female Disney movies of what I princess do and what  they look like, they also are the ones that buy all of the pink clothes, toys, and make-up for them to use so at a child they also think what they are doing is normal since  they see it on tv and their parents help enforce it. And other than the girly objects they created Ken a male doll. What message does this show a child, that a pretty princess needs a handsome prince, maybe this is why some people are so picky now. Everything is designed to be pretty and perfect. Then again this relates to the mother in the Brave, she is raising her daughter to be perfect and pretty always enforcing that a princess should do this and a princess should do that.
What is wrong with the color blue on a girl, as they get older and become more individualized they wear blue and no one says nothing. But as a child or even a young teen what does it mean to not wear pink, why does it always seem to be a bad thing when a girl doesn't want to be a girly girl at that age. Maybe they are a little more ruff outside, scrapping their knees, grass stains, and playing with boy toys. They are assumed to being a Tom Boy like the daughter in the brave. She doesn't do anything really that the mother likes and does more of the things that the father like but then in the end she turns out to be a perfect little girl without all the pink. I think all girls should have more of a choice for themselves without being dictated into what their parents want.
Questions;
Why do we talk about the Cinderella effects on children when parents are the ones forcing it on the child?
I cant relate to being forced to wear pink cause im a boy, but now at this present time a 21 yr old I have a few pink shirts in my closet. Does this mean I wasn’t raised the right way to stay with just the boy dominate colors such as blue?

5 comments:

  1. I think you make a good point about age. I can see older girls or women feeling more able to make their own choices and wear what they want compared to a child. Children's clothes in general are way more "girly" than juniors or womens, so they don't have much of a choice. I think parents are partly responsible, but I also feel like a lot of parents don't even think about this kind of stuff when they buy clothes or toys for their children. They're just doing what's "normal".

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  2. I think that you really hit it on the nose about girls who don't wear pink being seen as weird. I completely rebelled from pink. I refused to wear anything pink for a very long time. I was always called by dad's only "boy." My best friends were mostly male, until middle school, when I suddenly no longer fit into either group because of that.
    I totally agree that parents, and adults have a lot to do with the pink craze. I cannot tell you how many times I have overheard my sister (as well as other moms) say that "My son can't wear/play with that! It for girls!" and all I can envision is my nephew growing up, thinking that he is allowed to like the color pink, or barbies, and if he did wanted to, that that was abnormal and wrong. And like Sarah said, it not always about forcing the child, it about the normalization of trends.

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  3. I would be very interested to hear some of our own perspectives using what we've learned about young girls being forced into the Princess mold and Pink as a jumpoff point. Not necessarily on girls that you grew up with but what you yourself went through. You may not have felt pink was forced on you, but did you feel like blue/green/dark-colors were? Did you feel like you had freedom in exploring different kinds of toys and games? The part in Orenstein's texts where she's talking about how young boys would play with "girl" toys if they thought no one, especially their fathers, would find out was really interesting. Did you ever have those experiences where you felt like you couldn't play with certain things or people unless you knew very few people would find out?

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  4. Great post, Craig! Like Sarah, I don't think parents socialize their children this way on purpose; they think it's "normal" and the idea of going against the dominant ideology is foreign to them. And like Becca, I rebelled against pink (mostly). There was a brief period in my life where I loved the color pink; it was my Pink Power Ranger days (she was my favorite, and I shipped her with the Green Power Ranger before I knew what shipping was). When I was little, there was no pressure from my parents to mold into a gender role. My mom says she dressed me in little dresses when I was a baby, but when I was old enough to choose my own outfits, it was always jeans and a t-shirt. When I was at my dad's, he let me do whatever I wanted. He thought it was "cool" that I loved playing with legos and listening to the Beatles, but that I also enjoyed making little bead crafts and coloring. I was pretty lucky with that. I think the only outside pressure I faced was from classmates (though the girls I hung out with were also "tom boys" like I was in elementary school) and (occasionally) from other relatives who asserted to me that sometimes "beauty meant pain" (as I hated have my hair done special because it hurt when it was pulled). But those are very interesting questions posed by Andrea and I'd be interested in knowing how other classmates experienced childhood.

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  5. I agree with you that the girls should have more of a choice for themselves. They should be able to choose who they want to become.

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