Marvel is selling these two shirts, the left one for boys and the right one for girls.
What kind of subtle sexist messages are we selling to children with these shirts? Some people have said that this is no big deal because the shirts are marketed to kids, but I think this actually makes it worse. Childhood and adolescence are when most people form a lot of their ideas about the world including how they relate to the other gender. Of course some people overcome those ideas in adulthood, but many will not. It is a bad idea to start kids out by providing them with sexist gender stereotypes before they are even old enough to fully understand what a gender stereotype is.
We already have enough of this stuff from religion. I expect better from my nerdy icons.
Among my non-theist friends, this is the story I've seen trending the most on their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Meanwhile, mass murder is overlooked http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/04/12/kermit_gosnell_the_alleged_mass_murderer_and_the_bored_media.html
ReplyDeleteWhich story deserves more attention? More outrage? More coverage? Which one is more important?
Worldview guides priorities.
I wrote about this because I saw the article before I went to work and it angered me.
ReplyDeleteYou do understand that just because one criticizes one thing does not imply they approve of all the things they didn't happen to blog about at the same time right?
I'm sorry that I don't blog about the things you approve of.
Further, no one is on the fence about murder, we all agree that it's wrong. I wrote an article about something where I might actually change someone's mind about something. I don't blog to be a news outlet, but to offer opinions.
I understand.
ReplyDeleteI didn't say the shirts were cool per se ...
I'm just making an observation based on anecdotal evidence I saw ...
it's true it's not fair to criticize someone based on what they don't feature ...
I'm just saying that it is a trend I noticed, that is all.
Just pointing out there are bigger fish to fry ... and yes, I did also hope to draw some more attention to this story. Not sure who has and who hasn't seen it ...
sorry, I'm tired, random thoughts, not entirely coherent ... need sleep I do!
vm
ps - our show should be on the website before tomorrow night at midnight ...
Fair enough, I'll point out why I don't really give much credence to the "bigger fish to fry" argument as a rule.
ReplyDeleteThere are ALWAYS bigger fish to fry. If I point out sexism here for instance there are going to be worse cases of it elsewhere in the world, many Muslim nations for instance, and a lot of bloggers I've been following have been talking about the case of Amina, if you know anything about her story, it is clearly more serious than this shirt issue.
If you haven't heard about her http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2013/04/05/our-day-defend-amina/ talks about it. (Nudity)
If we say lets not talk about this problem here because there is a worse problem somewhere else nothing gets done in my opinion. Just because there is something worse elsewhere doesn't mean it isn't worth pointing out a problem that exists.
I've already looked at the story you brought up, and I may post about it at some point, I haven't decided yet. Spent the evening watching Game of Thrones with my fiance so I haven't been writing anything this evening.