By:Peggy Orenstein
After reading this piece I read Nicole's blog on it and I found it really interesting, so I decided to write my post this week as an extended comment to hers. First off if you haven't read it, I really recommend you do, it really opened my eyes and mind to perspectives I hadn't even thought of while reading this, you can read it here.
My first reaction to this piece was, "Wow, this is SO true!" As I sat reading it on my computer that has a pink case, in my room with bubble gum pink walls, a pink lamp, a pink chair and I sat there with pink sweatpants, a pink sweatshirt, and pink socks on next to my pink backpack and purse. Okay so it wasn't until I read this that I realized all of my stuff was SO pink. Granted, pink has almost always been my favorite color although I would not really consider myself an extreme girly girl. Although my love for the color had to come from somewhere. Now here is where I totally agree with Nicole, that maybe that is my favorite color just because, she says in her blog that her favorite color is blue. I totally agree that it might be a little far fetched that the toys we play with determine everything about us even down to our favorite color. Do I think my favorite color would be pink even if I never played with dolls when I was younger? Probably. I just really like the color and I don't think things like that are nessesarily determined by our toy culture.
 |
| A Groovy Girl. The line of dolls me and my sister liked to play with when we were growing up. |
And that bring me to where I have to disagree with Nicole. Although I do not believe the toy culture determines every aspect of our lives I definitely thinks it has an influence. Nicole brings up a point while connecting this piece to Delpit that I found really interesting. She says "Children need to be told directly what to do; otherwise they will not follow the directions. A child needs to be explicitly told what to do, so how can they get a message that is barely implied?"
I find this to be a valid point, however, I think part of each child's toolbox that they come in with is their culture and I think part of that culture is implied and learned behavior.
Points to Share:
I found that this piece was easy to read (just a little long) and brought up some great valid points, and others that are a little over the top. Do you think that some of these veils are extreme? Do they necessarily dictate every aspect of our lives? Or are they Actually reality?
Hi Hannah! Loved your blog! It is really interesting how you went through your whole room and found everything to be pink. Pink is one of my favorite colors as well, and my room back at home had everything pink just like yours. But when I moved out, that changed because I know have a blue room and I love the color of my walls and my rug, everything just goes together. Even though its not my favorite color, I still love it. Who's to say a girl can't have a blue room?
ReplyDeleteHey Hannah I agree with your point to share that the text was an easy read though a little redundant. I think that some of Orenstein's opinions were taken a bit too far. I see where she was coming from because she wants her daughter to grow up to be a successful and strong woman. She does not want her to feel the pressure to live up to being perfect like the princesses. However, I don't think the Disney Princesses do as much harm as she made it seem. Little girls are innocent and don't view the princesses in such an extreme light as the author does.
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing about my blog I am glad you liked it. I agree that each child has a toolbox that they carry around that includes their culture. I think that Oreinstein and Christenson are over reacting when they talk about how Disney and other movies are corrupting children because the movies are creating a “secret education”. I agree with Delpit; if you have to explicitly tell a child (no matter how old they are) to stop playing with a toy and put it away, and they cannot get that from seeing everyone else cleaning up then they will not get some message from a movie. These movies are meant to be magical not corrupting.
ReplyDelete