Sarah S. pointed us to a blog post by Bluemilk about the recent outcry over 15-year-old Miley Cyrus in this month's Vanity Fair (below) and the more general sexualization of little girls.
Bluemilk calls out Abercrombie and Fitch, Fred Bare, and, elsewhere, Bratz Dolls.
Abercrombie and Fitch marketed a pair of thong underwear that says "wink wink" and "eye candy" to ten-year-olds. The product was pulled after protests:
Fred Bare's summer collection includes a slide show with many images of little girls hinting at a sexuality utterly inappropriate for their ages:
And Bratz Dolls, well, are Bratz Dolls:
(found here)
(found here)
Halloween costumes too (found here):
I think it's interesting that the Miley Cyrus cover is getting so much negative press, when these other instances include girls who are so much younger. Thoughts?
Thanks to both Sarah S. and Bluemilk!
Also in the sexualization of young girls.
The Miley Cyrus scandal
Map of Child Well-Being Rankings
The Every Child Matters Education Fund has an interactive map that allows you to click on a state and see where it ranks in terms of several indicators of child well-being.
Cord Blood Banking: Playing on Parental Fear
I found this ad for an umbilical cord blood storage company in the April 2008 issue of Healthy Las Vegas.
It provides a list of all kinds of very scary-sounding diseases as reasons you should pay to store your baby's blood cord. It's another example of scaring parents into buying expensive products to protect their kids--and, obviously, if you won't spend the money to store your baby's umbilical cord blood for years, you aren't a very good parent.
I went to the company's website. Under the heading "You Only Get One Chance to Bank Cord Blood" it says:
Banking a baby’s cord blood could prove invaluable should you ever need it. You only have one chance to collect this vital fluid and minutes after your baby is born. This sample has the potential to not only help the baby in the future, but also to blood relatives such as parents and siblings. It offers a powerful medical resource in fighting devastating chronic and acute diseases. Think of it as an investment in your family's future.It costs $1,850 for the kit to collect the blood from a single birth, plus $95 a year, or $1600 for 18 years, to store it.
Just for fun I looked up the prevalence of some of the diseases listed in the ad. Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome occurs in about 1 out of every 380,000 people. For amyloidosis, it's about 1 in 100,000. Less than 1 in 200,000 people have Wolman disease (these are all NIH estimates).
To put this in perspective, according to some calculations, a male African American child has about a 1 in 20 lifetime chance of being killed by gunfire. I don't know what it is for white kids, but I bet that, risk-wise, you'd be better off buying your kid a bullet-proof vest than banking their cord blood.
Kids' Book on Cosmetic Surgery
This book, self-published by a cosmetic surgeon, is supposed to help kids understand the wonderful transformation their mothers are about to go through, with the help of Dr. Michael, the superhero-like surgeon.
Read more in this post at boingboing.
Thanks, Nick W., and Jason S., and Green Ink!
Sexist stereotypes for kids: on sale now at Walgreens!
I saw these tee shirts on display at Walgreens today and did a double-take. And then I drove all the way home to get my camera. They're for children-- very tiny children (labeled 2T, 3T etc.). And they're on sale for the bargain price of $7.99 each, marked down from the original $15!!
Let's see what these tee shirts say:
"Lock up your daughters" on a black tee, which I assume is for boys. Think about what that means for a moment.
"Does this diaper make my butt look big?" on a pink tee, for girls.
"My dad rocks" on a red tee (for boys, I think). This doesn't make much of a statement until you compare it with the accompanying tees about mothers...
"My mom's hotter than your mom" on a white tee (again, I think for boys).
"My mom is hot" on a blue tee (boys).
and the clever "I cry when ugly people hold me" on black (for boys?).
While these aren't quite as terrible as the ones I dug up on the internets a while ago, I'm shocked to see them on sale at Walgreens. I guess I expect to find creepy, sexist stuff online more often than at my friendly neighborhood drugstore.
Sex and Politics
These two posters are part of Young Fine Gael's campaign for the Lisbon Reform Treaty (part of an effort to create a new European Union Constitution):
Modernizing Alvin And The Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks was remade in 2007. Are these chipmunks modernized? Urbanized? Racialized? All of the above?
The "Pornification" Of Teen Life
A colleague of mine likes to refer to the "pornification" of American culture. What do we think of this new promo poster for the popular teen show Gossip Girl?
Btw, OMFG means "Oh my F*(%ing God."
Thanks to an Anonymous commenter for this tip!
Anti-Teen Pregnancy PSA
This image (found here) is from a Milwaukee United Way anti-teen pregnancy ad series. There are additional examples here.
An anonymous commenter on a previous post told me about this:
...in milwaukee, there is an ad on some of the busses with a computer animated picture of a pregnant adolescent boy with words similar to "it should be just as disturbing if it were a girl" and i found it really offensive. it's interesting how it relates to thomas beattie and those previous ads about teen pregnancy...
Compare to these anti-teen pregnancy PSAs that portray teen parents as shameful and disgusting.
Here's another set of Milwaukee United Way PSAs about child sexual abuse.
Thanks, Anonymous!
GlamGuns Website Combines Cutesy Cartoon Characters with Military Equipment
A Theory of Parody: The Teachings of Twentieth-Century Art Forms, by Linda Hutcheon.The Neutral And The Marked: A Primer For Your Kids
These images came to us from Dianne who saw this on BoingBoing and dug deeper to find all these great examples!
Illustrating the way in which whiteness is taken-for-granted and others are always, well, other, Plan Toys sells these doll sets labelled "Ethnic Family," "AsianFamily," and, "Doll Family."
They also sell a "farmer" and a "farmer's wife." Dianne notes: "Women don't farm, apparently, they just marry men who do."
"Children can create imaginary stories with the Indian figures, camp, teepee and authentic accessories. They can learn about the traditional American tribe and their lifestye."
Notice how American Indian tribal difference is erased with the phrase "the traditional American tribe." Diane pointed out that the set actually combines teepees and totem poles which were traditions of tribes in the plains and on the west coast respectively.
In the "How to Play" section, it says:
"Children can imagine and tell stories about Red Indians, helping to stimulate their imagination and expanding their horizon."
Yes they really do say "Red Indians."
Diane notices that, just like the doll family is obviously white, "here again, apparently the default child is white, who can 'imagine... stories about Red Indians.'"
Ironically, the company claims that they are "socially & environmentally responsible" and promote "good values."
Thanks so much Diane!
Also in the neutral and the marked: men are people and women are women and from pale to pumped with racial stereotypes.
Sexualization Of Girls: A Trifecta
10-Year-Old Girl Models Bikini
As reported in The Daily Mail, this 10-year-old girl worked the catwalk among adult models. Said the fashion designer of her swimsuit line:
"I think the women who like my stuff... exude sexuality."
Trainer Pole For A Stripper-In-Training
This play stripper pole was being sold in the toys and games section of British store Tesco. Notice the girlish font and language (peekaboo) and the cartoon figure. It was removed after complaints. It is still for sale, but not in the toys/games section, and is marketed as an adult novelty item.
Found over at Feministing.
Lower Back Temporary Tattoos
Not old enough to get a tattoo, your little girl can still get her very own "tramp stamp" (as they are called). This Toys 'R Us vending machine is stocked with temporary tattoos for the lower back.
Thanks to Heather O. for the link.
Also in sexualizing little girls: sexualizing infants, horribly misguided anti-statutory rape PSAs, and a disgusting T.
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Gendered parenting: Moms do parenting, Dads do ??
Every time I see the cover of Parenting Magazine I'm surprised by the tagline:
"What matters to moms"
Here is the cover of the most recent issue. Where are dads? What sort of parenting do they do?
"Sex with a Child is a Crime" HIV Awareness Poster
Christine M. sent in this photo of a poster she "took in Zambia in May 2006 while I was visiting the compound of a child sponsoring organization called Children International. It speaks for itself in a country that has a high rate of HIV infection. The very fact that such a poster is needed is chilling."
Is the child at the top supposed to be Asian? I can't tell.
Thanks, Chris!
Sexualizing Infants
I took a picture of this bikini that was for sale at a children's clothing store in L.A. It is size 12-18 months.
Barbie's Pregnant Friend
This is a doll Mattel put out as part of the Barbie line a few years ago. Her name is Midge. Apparently she is Barbie's long-time friend. If you notice, Midge is pregnant. Her belly opened up and there was a baby inside. The line Midge is part of is called Happy Family.
This is Alan, Midge's husband, and Ryan, their son. Midge and Alan were married in 1991, according to Mattel.
This is the whole Happy Family line--Alan and Ryan, Midge and baby, and grandparents.
The pregnant Midge doll was quickly pulled from the market because of protests that Midge might be interpreted as a single mother. Mattel argued that Midge and Alan had been married for years, but conservative groups argued that since she was sold separately, girls could get the wrong message and think she wasn't married.Racism In Disney's Fantasia
The centaur scene in Disney's highly acclaimed cartoon Fantasia (1940) clearly communicates gendered expectations for men and women, but there are also racial politics. First, note that, in the film as released, all of the centaurs end up in color-matched heterosexual pairs:
Also, most people do not know that the original centaur scene included a pickaninny slave to the centaur females:
Below are parts of the original centaur scene (in three clips) that have since been suppressed:
Don't miss our post showing bugs bunny in blackface, too.
"Married With Accessories," A Fashion Spread
Because when you're doing household labor, it is of the utmost importance that you are hot, in high heels, and headless.
(I especially like the one where she is trapped between the washer and dryer. What? Also, if I were her, I'd be trying to desperately and quietly cry for help, too. Get is? S.O.S.)
This post goes nicely with this recent one. And those little tow-headed children remind me of these.
From Marie Claire March 2005.
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