Well, if it isn’t the mommy wars, it is the rage against the pink princess machine.
I am a child of the 70′s. I am a child of a super feminist mother who was herself raised by a single parent in the 50′s & 60′s. My mom’s generation had to fight against the idea that women should be silent supporters of their husbands who didn’t work, didn’t voice opinions, and didn’t really matter beyond their ability to have children.
I am a woman who was given a boy’s name, not allowed to wear pink, not allowed to shave my legs, not allowed to be “girly”. My hair was cut short (I have school pictures where if it weren’t for my pink & blue giant glasses you would think I was a boy), I never learned about makeup, never really learned to be a “girl”.
It took me years to realize that I look pretty good in a dark pink and that it was OK to like the way I looked and to show off my curves.
My view of the whole Princess vs. Anti-Princess is pretty skewed, I admit it.
Here’s the deal though. We, as parents, are responsible for it getting this way. This place where there is toy segregation. We are the ones who only take our girls down the one aisle or discourage our boys from playing with dolls. We ultimately control who spends the money.
Maybe you’re like me, wanting to make sure your girl gets what you didn’t get. Maybe you’re really in to those girly things yourself. Maybe you just don’t have the energy to fight the marketing machine because you’re too busy trying to support your family and sleep through the night. However, we have no one to blame but oursevlves.
You see though, its not that hard. In the new Lego sets, the ones aimed at girls, there is an Inventor’s Workshop. Disney, those lovely people who brought you the helpless princess of the 30′s though well, Jasmine (because Tiana and Rapunzel sort of kick ass), also have Tinkerbell who is, wait for it, a tinker, and inventor. They aren’t as easy to find, but thanks to Stan Lee, the Marvel Universe is full of strong female characters. (though I challenge their new owner Disney to do a better job of licensing those characters) In the DC Universe, there is Wonder Woman. You can find not remotely pink Wonder Woman merchandise in everything from baby onesies, to Little People, to Polly Pocket. For Christmas, my six year old niece picked out Wonder Woman shirts for my 6 month old, my four year old, and for me. Yes, they are pink, but they have Wonder Woman on them!
Its easy to blame Lego for marketing to what so many girls seem to want, but that doesn’t mean that you have to buy in to it. Buy the Inventor’s Workshop and then buy the Cars set with Tow Mater & Holly Shiftwell and while you’re at it, get the Millennium Falcon set too because that has all the best characters including Leia. They can have a party in the tree house. I always wanted a tree house.
By the way, if you go to the “girl” section of the Lego site, the pink stuff is only a fraction of what is there. Yes, there are no ninjas in the girl section, but there are pirates. Girl everywhere know pirates are better than ninjas. Also, I would have killed when I was a kid for some girl lego people. This set sort of rocks my world.
Rage Against The Pink Princess Machine
Well, if it isn’t the mommy wars, it is the rage against the pink princess machine.
I am a child of the 70′s. I am a child of a super feminist mother who was herself raised by a single parent in the 50′s & 60′s. My mom’s generation had to fight against the idea that women should be silent supporters of their husbands who didn’t work, didn’t voice opinions, and didn’t really matter beyond their ability to have children.
I am a woman who was given a boy’s name, not allowed to wear pink, not allowed to shave my legs, not allowed to be “girly”. My hair was cut short (I have school pictures where if it weren’t for my pink & blue giant glasses you would think I was a boy), I never learned about makeup, never really learned to be a “girl”.
It took me years to realize that I look pretty good in a dark pink and that it was OK to like the way I looked and to show off my curves.
My view of the whole Princess vs. Anti-Princess is pretty skewed, I admit it.
Here’s the deal though. We, as parents, are responsible for it getting this way. This place where there is toy segregation. We are the ones who only take our girls down the one aisle or discourage our boys from playing with dolls. We ultimately control who spends the money.
Maybe you’re like me, wanting to make sure your girl gets what you didn’t get. Maybe you’re really in to those girly things yourself. Maybe you just don’t have the energy to fight the marketing machine because you’re too busy trying to support your family and sleep through the night. However, we have no one to blame but oursevlves.
You see though, its not that hard. In the new Lego sets, the ones aimed at girls, there is an Inventor’s Workshop. Disney, those lovely people who brought you the helpless princess of the 30′s though well, Jasmine (because Tiana and Rapunzel sort of kick ass), also have Tinkerbell who is, wait for it, a tinker, and inventor. They aren’t as easy to find, but thanks to Stan Lee, the Marvel Universe is full of strong female characters. (though I challenge their new owner Disney to do a better job of licensing those characters) In the DC Universe, there is Wonder Woman. You can find not remotely pink Wonder Woman merchandise in everything from baby onesies, to Little People, to Polly Pocket. For Christmas, my six year old niece picked out Wonder Woman shirts for my 6 month old, my four year old, and for me. Yes, they are pink, but they have Wonder Woman on them!
Its easy to blame Lego for marketing to what so many girls seem to want, but that doesn’t mean that you have to buy in to it. Buy the Inventor’s Workshop and then buy the Cars set with Tow Mater & Holly Shiftwell and while you’re at it, get the Millennium Falcon set too because that has all the best characters including Leia. They can have a party in the tree house. I always wanted a tree house.
By the way, if you go to the “girl” section of the Lego site, the pink stuff is only a fraction of what is there. Yes, there are no ninjas in the girl section, but there are pirates. Girl everywhere know pirates are better than ninjas. Also, I would have killed when I was a kid for some girl lego people. This set sort of rocks my world.