In early February, Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood was enraged. Marisol Luna had left the danger-ridden urban area, complaining of gangs and rampant poverty, for the squeaky-clean suburbs, and 95 percent of all preteen girls in the United States knew it. Those girls idolize Marisol Luna: They want to be just like her. They want to dress like her, wear their hair like… return to article
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Reader Comments (13)Page 1 of 1 pagesWell if it weren’t so true it would be scary or at least a schock. Alison Foster
Posted by Alison on Mar 15, 2005 at 7:37 PM The girls wish for:
“equal pay for equal work” - isn’t this already true, when one takes into account years in the labor market, education, etc? (I grant that if one takes all women vs all men in all fields, men make 25% more than women, however.)
“domestic partnership benefits” - Not going to happen anytime soon.
“self-confidence” - already true for girls with good families.
“healthy body images” - same as above.
“safe and effective birth control” - between the pill and condoms i’d say this is a done deal. Getting people to use them is another story.
“ample career opportunities” - already achieved.
“safe, legal abortion access” - insomuch as abortion can ever be “safe” (one person always dies as a result, but they are just “cells”), this seems also to have been achieved.
“free tampons” - why would this product be free? In any case, they are relatively affordable (and most parents probably provide them for free for their children, anyway).
Just my thoughts on the wishes expressed. Seems like we are in pretty fine times, as far as the list goes. . .
Posted by wishesComeTrue on Mar 15, 2005 at 9:03 PM I don’t support a business intimidating a person trying to make a point, but I do think time can better be spent on some more poignant issues facing girls the age of my daughter (almost 8) such as rising violence against women and girls, increasing sexism, and the reigning in of women’s rights. I have been pleased with how much my daughter’s conviction that women are equal and that African Americans are equal has grown since her reading (devouring) the American Girls series of books. Her identification with her doll, as well as friends’ identification with theirs, has allowed role playing and “fantasy” based on a more realistic world than the Barbies and such that are otherwise available. The dolls are expensive, but so are Game Boys and Playstations. We don’t have video systems in our home and our son (13) has only been allowed a Game Boy, and yet the pressure is intense for him to play these games…almost all of which show women and girls as absolute sex objects. Gloria Steinem hadn’t seen anything in the 60’s and the 70’s compared to what the toy industry is teaching boys about objectifying girls. Is American Girl really the toy you should spend your valuable time tearing into? I’m thrilled that there is a toy that actually goes against the mainstream…tell me, would George W. approve of the values American Girl teaches? You know, those values of life isn’t easy, racism is wrong, individuality is good, everyone is valuable, animals require responsibility, think, be responsible, and most importantly…GIRLS ROCK? Let the girls have a toy already…we’ve been waiting a long time for a good toy. Talk to Mattel about your concerns, but please let our American girls play.
Posted by Patty Cunningham-Woolf on Mar 15, 2005 at 10:53 PM Your right to free speech does not mean that you have a right to an audience, or that anyone else is obligated to provide you with a platform. If you want to spread your message, do so on your own property or with the approval of the property’s owner.
This victim mentality is causing more problems for women and minorities than any other single issue - especially some stupid doll. Once a person thinks she’s “owed” something, she quits working.
Posted by Christine on Mar 16, 2005 at 5:30 PM “If you want to spread your message, do so on your own property or with the approval of the property’s owner.”
Like here. :)
Posted by freeSpeech on Mar 16, 2005 at 5:46 PM I have never heard of this doll prior to reading this article, but on gut instinct I think I’m more apt to believe Patty Cunningham-Woolf’s assessment over the article’s. Great Post!
one minor quibble though: concerning video games, I’d say the games that show women as “absolute sex objects” is almost certainly in the minority. What with the massive popularity of sports-themed games..I agree though, one game with gargantuan-breasted pixelated females is too many…and not just a tad creepy as well ;)
but that was a fantastic post…the kind that too often is missing from this website!
Posted by lefty canuck on Mar 16, 2005 at 9:05 PM I’m glad you took the time to do this. Creepy as it must have felt to be inside a drone factory. The parents of these girls think commercialism is healthy - or they just haven’t got much invested in reality themselves?
Well, they generate a profit so we should just blindly enforce their right to fuck up society in this way?
Posted by shubert on Mar 17, 2005 at 2:11 PM “If you want to spread your message, do so on your own property or with the approval of the property’s owner”.
We can solve that problem right now. Abolish private property!
Posted by crystal meth on Mar 18, 2005 at 5:25 AM Doll or not, that’s not what concerns me. It seems for now, we have a right to bicker over it, amoungst ourselves. But, all of the law enforcement, and intimidation tactics over one person’s quiet, non-intrusive, subtle way of maybe causing someone to look at something in a more open view? Wake up ya’all. That’s terrifying to me.
Posted by CAVEMAN'S BUNNY on Mar 22, 2005 at 4:26 PM >rising violence against women and girls
How about rising violence *of* women against men in relationships, as studies have shown? They were duking it out with men at 50%, but since we’ve started saturating the media with “Men == aggressors, BAD” they’re up pushing towards 75%How about the falling scores of boys in reading and acedemics across the board.
How about falling enrollments of men in colleges, ongoing now for 10-20 years.
Who are your daughters going to marry? And how are they going to claim to be victims? Unless we’re going to start a Great Feminine Hope mythology thing…
Not that the corporations selling lifestyles are going to do any of that. And not like selling the truth is going to make any money, so you’re not going to be able to compete with them directly.
Posted by anon on Mar 22, 2005 at 9:13 PM Well, let me put my two cents worth in. I think an 8 year old girl should just about be done playing with dolls. The 8 year olds of today do not need instructions to know about the human body and how it functions. By the time I was 8 years old, my mom was taking me to the library and helping me choose books related to my age group. Theres nothing better then reading and opening your eyes to a world full of knowledge just sitting there to be used. My mom always told me, if you want to stand out from the crowd, dare to be different. Everyone is a person and has individual talents and they should use them by sharing them with others.
Posted by Pat Grzybowski on Mar 24, 2005 at 1:01 PM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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Also by Anne Elizabeth Moore
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