Sports Illustrated puts woman over 50 on Swimsuit Issue cover
- Thread starter figmentPez
- Start date
Understandable. Most sitcoms/comedies would support this point of view. (See anything starring Kevin James, for example).
I think everyone's missing the bigger problem here. Body issues from Barbie isn't the problem. A toy that is loved by millions of girls is going to be starring in an issue where most of the women are portrayed like HCGLNS posted. Even without Barbie on the cover, they are making a huge marketing campaign about how Barbie is going to be featured in this issue, including toy tie-ins. Yes, I know there are adult Barbie collectors (I still have mine, and my mother still buys special editions from time to time for collecting/selling), but there are a LOT of little girls who are going to want to read about Barbie, a number of those who don't even know what the Sport Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is. And whether their parents are aware of it or not, they're going to have to navigate images like the above to get to the article. And yes, while parents should be aware of what their children are doing/viewing, you shouldn't be featuring a popular girls' (or children's) toy among sexually explicit depictions of women. (I don't even know why they bother calling it a swimsuit edition when barely anyone is wearing part of the swimsuit, if they are at all.) If they were going to feature Barbie, then maybe it should have been a toy-themed issue, and leave the usual "swimsuit" pictorals for adults/teens who can't by Playboy yet.
figmentPez
Staff member
Kids Jet's age mostly don't know who Peach is. They just see a princess in a pink dress. Unfortunately, little kids learn these gender roles from their families, their friends, and what they read and watch. Our culture teaches kids that boys don't play with dolls or princesses or like the color pink - even at that young of an age. I wish it was a toy is a toy. When my son was about 2 or 3 I wanted to buy him a play kitchen because he liked helping me when I was cooking and I needed a way to get him out from underfoot when I was trying to make dinner. I got told by my parents and my in-laws that it wasn't a toy for boys despite all of them admitting that some of the greatest chefs of our time are all men. My husband cooks. My dad cooks. But a toy kitchen would make him less of a boy some how. It's ridiculous.
Holy balls. I am going to have to show him that.
He's also started saying that Wonder Woman isn't strong because she's a girl and disliking some other femme superheros for the same reason.
Girls just aren't 'tough'.
Apparently they are also only allowed to play with pink legos and pink nerf guns. He has some pink legs and he has put them in a corner.
It's just such a radical change from the little boy that liked to wear princess crowns and pretend to do ballet one second and get in a gun war the next. I don't know if it's my doing or not....
Thankfully, we have had no complaints over his kitchen yet.
A few months ago Noah tried telling me that women can't be warriors. I introduced him to Boudica, Joan of Arc, Tomoe Gozen, and Hatshepsut (not a warrior, but a highly successful Egyptian pharaoh which in itself took skill). At the end of my lecture my husband, shaking his head slowly, patted Noah on the back and said, "You'll learn one way or the other".
My son is obsessed with my Dyson vacuum, so from Christmas my friend got him his own mini one that looks exactly like mine (it even has some suction!). He spent all of Christmas and the two days following "vacuuming" the house, usually wearing his new construction belt and his dinosaur slippers. He still loves that vacuum and plays with it all the time. If someone ever tries to tell him a vacuum isn't for boys, I'll deck them.
I know boys reach that age where they're suddenly anti-anything perceived "girly", usually instructed by their peers. It just makes me sad that they feel like it has to be that way. (Sadder that there are some who never grow out of it.) I know it happens to girls, too, but I guess I was lucky that most of the friends I made in childhood never made me feel like I had to stop liking things because they were "for boys" or "uncool". They weren't always on board with it, but I never felt like I had to eliminate it from my life. And having supportive family helped, too, but man, there is no pressure like peer pressure in those years.
I know boys reach that age where they're suddenly anti-anything perceived "girly", usually instructed by their peers. It just makes me sad that they feel like it has to be that way. (Sadder that there are some who never grow out of it.) I know it happens to girls, too, but I guess I was lucky that most of the friends I made in childhood never made me feel like I had to stop liking things because they were "for boys" or "uncool". They weren't always on board with it, but I never felt like I had to eliminate it from my life. And having supportive family helped, too, but man, there is no pressure like peer pressure in those years.
I don't know if it's still in print, but you should show him Greg Rucka's run on Wonder Woman, specifically the volume called Eyes of the Gorgan. She fights Medusa in a really nasty, tough battle.
Or the time she went toe-to-toe with Superman.
I got a lot of grief over things I did and liked because they were "unlady-like" or it was something only a male of the species should be interested in. Football, sciences, cars & motorcycles, weaponry...all for boys and I was odd for liking them. I also took dance for 12 years, played with make up and clothes, had dolls and liked to bake. That was acceptable. So I kept a lot of my interests to myself when I was younger.I know it happens to girls, too, but I guess I was lucky that most of the friends I made in childhood never made me feel like I had to stop liking things because they were "for boys" or "uncool". They weren't always on board with it, but I never felt like I had to eliminate it from my life. And having supportive family helped, too, but man, there is no pressure like peer pressure in those years.
figmentPez
Staff member
She's fought with Superman more than once, and that's made for pretty well established comic canon that Wonder Woman is on evenly matched with Superman in a fight.
Personally I like the version of Wonder Woman from The New Frontier, where she's taller than Superman is.
I have the feeling - but I'm seriously just going by anecdotal evidence here from my own circles -that the "that isn't feminine/ladylike enough for girls" thing is slowly petering out as it's regarded as anti-feminist and such (plus, doctors, engineers, the lot are just plain good jobs for kids to aspire to); while the "that's not manly/tough/masculine enough" for boys is still going strong and possibly even getting worse.
As stated earlier, I think everyone should feel free to play with what they want, one way or the other. I've seen parents "force" their girl to play with lego while she wanted to play with a doll "because ti's better for her development" and that's just rubbish too.
As stated earlier, I think everyone should feel free to play with what they want, one way or the other. I've seen parents "force" their girl to play with lego while she wanted to play with a doll "because ti's better for her development" and that's just rubbish too.
figmentPez
Staff member
My suspicion is that this continues because there is a minority of radical feminists who see the vilification of men as advantageous to women. The same feminists who say stuff like "The only way to make men equal to women is to bring them down" are the ones who are happy to see men continue to be defined, and limited, by stereotypes. The silent majority just allows that to happen, even if they don't find it to be true, they may not see how harmful it is to everyone. This silent majority also tends to speak up if men try to defend themselves, because it takes a cool head and a lot of wisdom to be able to speak up against the minority voices attacking men, without coming across as attacking all women in return. There is also another small minority within feminism who actually speak out against the old stereotypes for men, but their voice is harder to hear because they have to be heard above not only the factions within their own movement, but above all other social forces that wish to keep the status quo for men, as well.
I don't think he meant it as a joke at all. It's just plain fact.
Sadder still when they get older and discover that most girls would love to date a guy who is a) a bit "girly" and b) not at all afraid to show it.
--Patrick
GasBandit
Staff member
I tell you what the biggest consternation I had about he-man when I was a kid... it was that the Teela action figure wore this big snake-themed hood/garment that never ever showed up in the cartoon. What the hell was THAT all about, I'd still like to know?
Also, it's hard to remember that far back, I was around 3 or 4 at the time, but I think the Sorceress might have been the first reason I found to consider that, at some point, girls might have a purpose other than for hitting or discomforting via exposure to invertebrates and reptiles.
Also, it's hard to remember that far back, I was around 3 or 4 at the time, but I think the Sorceress might have been the first reason I found to consider that, at some point, girls might have a purpose other than for hitting or discomforting via exposure to invertebrates and reptiles.
I'm picturing her wielding Captain America's shield in this panel. And it is glorious.