I recently read post about a old book saying it was meant for boys but girls may like it too. The post and conversation (about chick flicks vs. action movies) got me really thinking of my first in depth thought about sexism as a child.
Mind you, it's not profound nor does it examine all angles as it came from the mind of a 5 year old but I do find it ironic that I was thinking this way and now I'm studying gender inequality in college.
I was raised by my grandmother who was a personal trainer/nutritionist/ aerobics instructor and was very strict about nutrition, yet I surprisingly had a knowing relationship with McDonald's Happy Meals as a child.
Although I was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan, I loved Barbies and Madame Alexander dolls. Every time McDonalds would do a rotation of these toys I would get SOO excited to go "see which one I would get". I remember pulling up to the speaker and my grandma placing the order and they would ask "is the Happy Meal for a boy or a girl?" I never gave it a second thought until one day they didn't ask and I recieved a Hot Wheels car versus rollerblading Barbie. I was a little peeved to not get my Babie but more than that I started thinking...
Why is it that when they offer toys such as Barbie, Madame Alexander, Littlest Pet Shop, etc. (*GIRLS* toys) they ALWAYS have to include an "alternative" for boys?
I thought back to an instance when I got some sort of gun/weapon as a toy in the meal. I think it was to promote a Batman movie or something. I remember my tiny pacificist self being disappointed and wondered why I wasn't given the option of an alternative.
Now I'm not saying that girls can't like Batman (I secretly LOVE the newer movies esp.) and that they should crave Barbies but what the heck type of message is being sent here (and I realize that a lot of you could potentially rip me apart for admitting I liked the "girly toys but try to see that I was just a little girl of the 80's)?
It's still being sent! I thought for sure this would be a thing of the past, but no. I saw an add for a "suspiciously girly" toy on TV the other day and just had to drive by to see if it was being offered as the sole toy. Oh no! You better believe there was some sort of macho toy mashed up with it so that no parent will sue McDonalds for making their son a homosexual. *eye roll*
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Yeah, I'll never forget one birthday in 3rd grade where one of my classmates came and gave me a Barbie as a gift. I was the BIGGEST tom boy you have ever seen and in my mind I was like "whaaaaaaat?" My parents were so proud that I managed to fake happiness. They knew I hated Barbies, but I didn't want to make the girl feel terrible just because she didn't know me well and gave me a gift she though I'd like.
For some reason I was always very aware (at least as far back as I can remember) about the girl/boy separations. Since I can remember I always insisted my favorite color was blue because I did NOT want to be girly, lol. Apparently my sociological thought processes developed early on, guess my sociology major makes sense now. :) Now that I'm older, I LOVE pink, but it's because I grew to love it and let myself love it, instead of it being thrust upon me at an early age and me just being born into the color. I still find myself going back into old habits though and will occasionally, when asked, say yellow is my favorite color instead of pink. Just because it's hard to convey that I chose pink and that pink wasn't chosen for me and for the sake of not having people think I'm "stereotypical" I pick yellow.
But you were not alone as a childhood sociological/feminist thinker! :D And I think it's fine for McDonalds to have different types of toys, its more the fact that they make the assumption that girls and boys like certain toys. I always thought the kids should be allowed to pick for themselves. But we all know how some parents love to decide what they're kids play with for fear of them becoming too masculine or feminine. Or GAY! Heaven forbid! -_-
I hated Barbie and ended up decapitating and filling thei heads with water when playing in th tub. Total tomboy too!
You sound alot like me. I was a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan in the late 80's and early 90's. Not much of a barbie fan though.
-Nikki-
Tough to undo years upon years of rigidly defined conceptions of masculinity that label anything the least bit feminine a sign of being womanly and thus weak. This is just one of those things that has to be done one person at a time in the hopes that collective effort will make a dent.
Hey, I liked Barbies as a little girl! I liked to take off their clothes, limbs, and heads, anyways.
Ha!
I used to make my friends Barbies go suicide by having them jump off their Barbie play mansion. Who would want to be Barbie. It was like childhood feminine mystique. She had no power, or life life and everything she owned was pink!
I remember noticing a lot of this kind of stuff at a young age as well. I was and still am a huge tomboy. I guess when you are the one outside of the norm, you notice things like this, no matter what your age is.
One instance I remember as a kid was the goody bags at a party in elementary school. One of my best friends was a boy and his family seemed to have very traditional gender roles. So anyway, I was the only girl at his part and every boy got a hot wheels car in their goody bag. I was expecting the same thing but actually got some make up on a necklace thing (I still to this day never wear make up). I was a but peeved because his family knew me and my tomboyish ways. Luckily it was in the shape of a cat, so I still had fun with it. :)
Just last week I was in a rush and took my 2-year-old through a McDonald's drive-through. I was asked "Boy or girl?" after ordering a happy meal. I immediately answered "Girl," then thought better of it, adding, "wait, what are the toys?" The girl toy was an American Girl story thing and the boy toy was a rolling Star Wars spaceship with a bobblehead driver. I knew immediately which toy my girl would like better. "Boy toy, please." Then I got to have a chat with my girl about noticing exactly this sort of thing.
My mother used to do that too. I hated the 'girls' toys.