"Pink, princess-y and sexy too soon"
Melissa Atkins Wardy reaches an epiphany as she goes shopping for her 6-month year old daughter's first sippy cup. She realizes a gender division between girls and guys in the toy aisle. Certain toys like building blocks or fire trucks were only offered for boys and toys like cooking sets were only offered for girls. This epiphany led to Atkins Wardy starting a business selling empowering T-shirts for girls and boys.
Atkins Wardy was hoping to address a major issue in today's society; the issue of gender stereotypes. Society has placed a definition on how girls should act and how guys should act. This gender differentiation leads to an even bigger issue; the sexualization of young girls. The princess culture and pink toys are always focused on fashion and beauty or how a girl can please someone else by either keeping a clean house or looking perfect. Kids grow up too fast by being introduced to adult concepts of sexuality. Young girls are restricted from developing on their own and expressing who they really are.
I could make a connection to this article and the book that I am currently reading, The Woman Warrior. The book describes what the Chinese culture is and what it's like growing up in that environment. In the book, the narrator talks about how the Chinese prefer having sons instead of daughters. There is a higher value placed on boys than there is for girls. Young girls are raised to be servants. In this article, it talks about how girls think they have to act a certain way because of the stereotypes. In the book, the young girls are, in a way, forced to live up to those stereotypes. Raised to be servants and have babies.
This article makes me think of how I was raised. I rarely played with dolls or other toys that were classified as "girly". So, I was labeled as a tomboy. Now, I consider myself much more girly. Reading this article was definitely an eye opener. When I was younger, I was simply being myself; expressing myself differently from what society labeled as "girly". I have lots of younger cousins that play with dolls and other girly toys. Now I'm kind of concerned about the things they are being exposed to at a young age by playing with these toys. I don't want them to think they have to live up to what society thinks is "girly". They should be able to express themselves the same way I did when I was younger. I also don't want them to grow up too fast by being exposed to these things, as the article described. Being a woman doesn't mean looking a certain way or cooking, cleaning, and making babies. There is much more to being a woman.
The article is written from the point of view of a mother of two. Throughout the entire article she stresses the fact that as a mother you wouldn't want your kids growing up thinking they have to be a certain way because of what society has labeled it. This impacts the overall effect of the text because you're reading the article from the point of view of a concerned mother. In the article it explains how the stereotypes "teaches children there is only one way to be a girl and one way to be a boy" (Warllance).
To go more in debt and support this statement the author interviews the author of a book titled Redefining Girly. The author stated, "When you have a little girl like mine who is obsessed with the ocean and giant squids and insect infestations in homes, she's considered weird or odd or a tomboy when in fact, science and things like that should be considered girly" (Wallance). Another statement that has an impact on the text states, "I, along with so many other parents, am frustrated about the definitions of what's girly and what's not, and the separate products and clothing offered to girls and boys" (Wallance)
Wallace, Kelly. "Pink, princess-y and sexy too soon." CNN. CNN Newsource, 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 1 Feb. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/31/living/redefining-girly-melissa-atkins-wardy-parents/index.html?hpt=li_c2>.
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