Sherry Chandler » Gotta Revolution
Gotta Revolution
Barbara Enrenreich with a clarification of the basic Disney creepiness, with a call to revolution. Her rap is about the Princess line:
It may be old-fashioned to say so, but sex — and especially some middle-aged man’s twisted version thereof — doesn’t belong in the pre-K playroom. Children are going to discover it soon enough, but they’re got to do so on their own.
There’s a reason, after all, why we’re generally more disgusted by sexual abusers than adults who inflict mere violence on children: We sense that sexual abuse more deeply messes with a child’s mind. One’s sexual inclinations — straightforward or kinky, active or passive, heterosexual or homosexual — should be free to develop without adult intervention or manipulation. Hence our harshness toward the kind of sexual predators who leer at kids and offer candy. But Disney, which also owns ABC, Lifetime, ESPN, A&E and Miramax, is rewarded with $4 billion a year for marketing the masochistic Princess cult and its endlessly proliferating paraphernalia.
Let’s face it, no parent can stand up against this alone. Try to ban the Princesses from your home, and you might as well turn yourself in to Child Protective Services before the little girls get on their Princess cell phones. No, the only way to topple royalty is through a mass uprising of the long-suffering serfs. Assemble with your neighbors and make a holiday bonfire out of all that plastic and tulle! March on Disney World with pitchforks held high!
Once again, link courtesy of Have Coffee Will Write.
And, in the spirit of disclosure, I should probably point out that I have no daughters.
Meanwhile, Pocahontas County girls, who think “ammunition is always a thoughtful gift,” may be a step closer to the real Pocahontas:
One of the really refreshing things about Pocahontas County kids is that most of them are interested in hunting, or fishing, or farming, or forestry, or some other aspect of natural history. The seventh grade science textbook had a really lame population genetics section, but when I used white-tailed deer as an example, everybody got the concept immediately.
The very best thing about this is that the girls like this stuff at least as much as the boys. Last year, when the seventh grade English class produced a newsletter about November activities, the girls wrote the best hunting stories. They interviewed their girlfriends, and the consensus was that girls prefer bow hunting because the season lasts longer and you can kill does, and that turkey hunting is an excellent activity for girls and their grandpas. Boys didn’t seem to figure in the mix at all.
In this regard, at least, Pocahontas County has a happier situation for young women than many more affluent places in America.
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2 Comments
1. Sam L. Martin replies at 14th December 2007, 12:58 am :
Barbara E. says, “One’s sexual inclinations–straightforward or kinky, active or passive, heterosexual or homosexual–should be free to develop without adult intervention or manipulation.” Dear Ms. E., An adult’s intervention used to be called parenting. Your statement fills corporate America with glee, and they will gladly do the job. They smile when they think of all the liberals doing the heavy lifting for them in many arenas. And the liberals don’t even realize it.
2. Tommy replies at 14th December 2007, 9:23 am :
I certainly don’t agree with Disney’s attitude that girls should just sit back and wait to be rescued.
And I don’t appreciate He-Man’s message that it takes a man to rescue people, anymore. I’ve probably internalized that message long since, but I don’t see any problem with women on the police force and the fire department, so maybe I’ve internalized what little of She-Ra I ever did watch.
And I don’t know that I would have got on with the Pocahontas County girls, much. Not that the 7th-grade girls seem to be paying much attention to boys. And not that I got on with Bourbon County girls much better.
Oh, well. We do the best we can with what we’ve got.
Love,
T
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