We May Need Another Feminist Movement

I enjoyed the presentations on how toys and decor influence our gender roles, although it is a bit terrifying to see that maybe we have not "come a long way, baby." (like in the advertisement: http://tobaccodocuments.org/ads_pm/2058500255.html ) The toys aimed at little girls involved domestic chores and the toys for little boys involve power, speed, and the ability to defeat foes. The students presenting on this subject found some really good pictures of toy advertisements and they provided interesting commentary and reserch to go along with these images. It was shocking how many toys are made for little girls involving cooking and cleaning. There are many toy kitchens available out there, and some are quite fancy. The image of the little girl cooking for the little boy and serving food to him with a big smile on her face really made me realize how we get cast into these roles. I'm concerned that we haven't come very far since the 1800's in changing these roles. The picture of the little girl bent over her wash bucket with what Megan called her cleaning "trolly" beside her really sticks in my mind. The girl was smiling and looking very happy to be holding a sponge and getting ready to use all her cleaning supplies. Cleaning is a necessary part of life and it can feel rewarding when you get finished, but it is never fun! There must be thousands of other toys that little girls could play with that would be more fun. So why would a girl want a "cleaning trolly" and wash bucket? I never had such a toy nor wanted one. It makes me wonder if a man invented these types of domestic chore toys and if we are brainwashing our girls to think this activity is loads of fun. Why should the little girls have to clean and cook while the little boys are racing cars and slaying dragons? I think we need a new feminist movement to expose these brainwashing schemes. Maybe this time instead of burning our bras we can burn some of these toys! If Fairy Tales are promoting these ideas, I think we need to write new fairy tales. It will be interesting to see the new fairy tale movie that Disney is about to release. I hope it will do a better job of portraying women as strong and capable instead of weak and passive, but I have serious doubts.
I will write more on these interesting presentations about gender roles in future blogs.