Brand names and stereotypes

I really don’t have an issue with Disney, I love Disney movies and characters and such. But I don’t want to plaster my child with their characters and give them advertising that I have paid for. I broke down 1 time and bought my little girl a pair of black elmo shoes, they were the perfect color for several of her outfits and the elmo/zoe on the tops of the shoes is pretty discreet so it’s tolerable.

I know some parents buy the stuff b/c their kids want it and it makes the little tikes happy… I have no issue with that. Right now there is a grown women sitting in my office with a Disney blanket (it’s cold in here) wrapped around her shoulders and there is a Disney notepad sitting on her desk. I have witnessed other Disney characters in her possession so today is not unusual. There is just something about a grown women flaunting her Disney gang on her body and desk that just makes my stomache turn.

And you know it’s really not that it’s a grown women with a cartoon fetish, it’s just in my little bubble it’s so not cool to have Minnie sitting right next to you all day. Obscure Disney characters that don’t get much play maybe. I have in my possession a purse with the Cheshire Cat on it. It’s not my current handbag, I have passed it on to my little one for her to play with, but in my realm the Cheshire cat is obscure enough to be more acceptable than Minnie. Maybe it’s because I was not a cheerleader, or a preppy little blond in high school. I hung out with the stoners and alternative type kids… maybe my choice of friends 10 years ago is still influencing my current taste.

The Disney Princess crowd is a whole other story. I do have a beef with them. What are we teaching our little girls when we show them movies where the lead female’s entire dream/goal is to land herself a nice prince and live happily ever after. We are setting them up for heartache and disappointment, low self esteem and body image…all before they are even out of diapers! Where is the princess who rebels, decides to put herself through college and have a career? Where is the princess who doesn’t really like kids and certainly doesn’t want to have any of her own? Where is the princess who eats too many doughnuts and can’t fit into that size 0 dress? What about the princess who doesn’t want a nice prince and starts looking for a princess instead? There are so many options in our society, why does Disney want all the little girls to stay at home and be good little housewives?
It’s not just Disney. Walk into Pottery Barn for kids, on your right you have the boys side, there is a solar system model hanging from the ceiling, dinosaurs, trains, and a blue kitchen where his woman can leave him some beer to guzzle while he watches the game. On the left side of the store is the girls side; complete with a pink house, pink fridge, washer and dryer, ironing board with an iron, and fake soap to use in the washing machine. A little kitchen with a stove for all her cooking and a grocery cart so she can go get her man some food. I know that given a choice that both sexes would play with all this stuff but it’s all PINK so you know who is really going to be buying this shit. All those little “princesses” learning how much fun it is to iron a shirt.

I feel like going out and buying my little one a calculator and teaching her how to do my taxes now.