tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.comments2013-07-30T18:49:42.574-07:00Girls' Literature and CultureMichelle Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18350801340930174962noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-9827644012132323362013-02-19T22:11:04.049-08:002013-02-19T22:11:04.049-08:00"...childhood itself was not "invented&q...<i>"...childhood itself was not "invented" until the modern period, as before this time they were seen, and treated, as miniature adults."</i> - Good point. Kids nowadays are considered way too different from adults. Although that's 100% true, I actually like the nineteenth century where the young ones were dressed in the same clothing as adults - no distinction other than size, no "kids clothes vs. adult clothes" and all that stuff.Isaac Burgoynehttp://www.skiptomylou.com.au/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-52890005433261581262012-12-18T16:42:02.128-08:002012-12-18T16:42:02.128-08:00I loved that boy in his pink ballet flats - he roc...I loved that boy in his pink ballet flats - he rocked them! Why were people so concerned? There was a time when little boys wore dresses like their sisters. We live in odd times... <br /><br />And more options for girls, for sure. Not every girl likes pink. Gasp! Or pink to the exclusion of all else. I always find it funny when people are sometimes surprised that I don't often wear pink. In fact, I don't have a pink dominated wardrobe. I can like pink without being obsessed by it. I think marketing directed at children hasn't realised this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-936991189982554102012-12-16T03:40:29.704-08:002012-12-16T03:40:29.704-08:00Thanks, "Doc"! The green one seems coole...Thanks, "Doc"! The green one seems cooler too because it uses the old-school lightbulb for the cooking. As you say, there shouldn't be a reason why the colour of a toy prevents a child of either sex playing with it. There is nothing wrong with a boy being attracted to pink or purple, or glitter or fairy wings. But these things have become so explicitly coded as "girly", and definitive of what a girl ought to like that it is not only hard for some girls to find something outside of that limited realm, but almost impossible for boys to be allowed to desire those things. Surely a four-year-old should not care what colour a toy oven is? But clearly this boy is already aware that it will somehow impinge on his "boyness" to play with a toy marketed toward girls. <br /><br />And I also agree that "gender neutral" shouldn't mean removing typically feminine qualities or features, but should be about the freedom of girls and boys to float between different kinds of toys that appeal to them without fear that playing with them will somehow inhibit their development as girls or boys. Why can't a little boy wear pink shoes, for instance? http://ideas.time.com/2012/12/14/the-lesson-of-the-boy-in-the-pink-ballet-flats/Michelle Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18350801340930174962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-55917930509793777972012-12-15T15:36:26.273-08:002012-12-15T15:36:26.273-08:00Great post! There are problems, absolutely. In ter...Great post! There are problems, absolutely. In terms of Easy Bake, it's definitely portrayed as being for girls, but there actually is a green oven available (http://www.hasbro.com/easy-bake/en_US/shop/details.cfm?R=93BBAE03-6D40-1014-8BF0-9EFBF894F9D4:en_US), despite the recent rhetoric about how boys don't have an oven they can play with - it's just the 'ultimate oven' that is purple (not pink!) that is getting all the attention. Why can't a boy play with things that are purple or pink though? This seems to be the big issue. Seeing a girl with a boy's toy is 'gender neutral', sometimes surprising, but rarely shocking. Seeing a boy with a girls' toy? I really liked your point about that. I still worry that our concept of 'gender neutral' is becoming based in the masculine and simply becomes an issue of erasing explicitly feminine signifiers. I knew someone who worked at a 'fairy store' - she said the little boys would always resist the fairy wings that were introduced for boys (more manly wings!). There were tantrums. Those boys wanted the glitter, the feathers, the pink wings! Basically, I think there's work to do in making people understand... that's okay.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-10385544872341808832012-10-01T22:50:07.435-07:002012-10-01T22:50:07.435-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Clothing Onlinehttp://thefashiontunnel.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-66388553052586395822012-09-12T03:21:49.206-07:002012-09-12T03:21:49.206-07:00Wish I could make it along to hear you speak.Wish I could make it along to hear you speak.The Hanging Gardenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12194342070335364711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-41107382604850433022012-09-04T00:15:26.045-07:002012-09-04T00:15:26.045-07:00That's a good theory. There might have been gr...That's a good theory. There might have been greater familial expectation, as you say, and a more traditional idea of childcare as a duty rather than work that required payment. Michelle Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18350801340930174962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-30386760072943944082012-09-03T00:22:33.446-07:002012-09-03T00:22:33.446-07:00Good points. I have nothing to base this on, but I...Good points. I have nothing to base this on, but I suspect girls were more likely to sit free of charge in other groups - as you say, this could be due to tighter family networks but also perhaps due to different expectations about the role of young women in providing care for younger siblings or cousins etc.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-65337270261813337172012-09-02T04:19:19.660-07:002012-09-02T04:19:19.660-07:00Elizabeth, thanks for your comment. This is an ex...Elizabeth, thanks for your comment. This is an excellent question. Race and class are very much absent from the book's discussion, as babysitting by teen girls seems like quite a white-bread, middle-class pursuit, especially in the early 20th century. Working-class parents may not have had the funds to hire babysitters to enable leisure time and middle-class families no doubt wanted to hire girls from their own neighbourhood. <br /><br />That said, there must have been child care going on in poorer households and in the houses of non-white families, and, as you say, it would be interesting to learn about their histories. So, yes, there is a telling absence here. I wonder if this is partly the result of the greater historical record of anxieties about white, middle-class girls and what they got up to? And perhaps other groups retained their family networks for childcare to a greater degree, unlike the middle-class families who traded the cities for the suburbs?Michelle Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18350801340930174962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-18581042239285552792012-09-02T03:33:41.373-07:002012-09-02T03:33:41.373-07:00Thanks, Michelle, for this informative review.
I ...Thanks, Michelle, for this informative review.<br /><br />I haven't read the book, but do you think it adequately considers questions of race and class? For example, the comment 'The Great Depression... provided financial incentive for girls to become more enthusiastic about sitting, as their own families were no longer able to provide generous allowances' seems to suggest that the book is pretty middle-class centric (who else would have generous allowances for their daughters?!)<br /><br />It would be interesting to know if other classes and ethnicities have also participated in babysitting.<br /><br />ElizabethAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-89822515334571218612012-08-19T05:17:34.397-07:002012-08-19T05:17:34.397-07:00Thanks for the post, Rebecca-Anne. I think that...Thanks for the post, Rebecca-Anne. I think that's true about the young girl models. It's problematic for women as well when very young girls are used as the ideal type to display clothing, as their bodies are often so much thinner than developed women. Michelle Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18350801340930174962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-28378471970944740862012-08-16T15:17:46.072-07:002012-08-16T15:17:46.072-07:00Great post. I read a comment recently on another b...Great post. I read a comment recently on another blog - the writer suggested that part of the problem was the use of young models. It situates (indeed, sexualises) younger girls as the standard of fashion. In no small part, our fashion industry is geared towards the younger girl. There never has been an easy answer, though I love your point that this problem doesn't seem to exist around boys. Boys can be uncovered and not regarded as sexually available. There isn't quite the same fashion interest in the younger male.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-87243833245433728112012-08-05T07:48:13.438-07:002012-08-05T07:48:13.438-07:00Ah well, that's a nice way to think of it. If ...Ah well, that's a nice way to think of it. If you work on children's texts you do have to learn to look harder. I think there's something to be analysed even on a cereal packet- must be the influence of the Cultural Studies subjects I took in my undergrad years.Michelle Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18350801340930174962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-66605147270349384392012-07-27T21:02:14.509-07:002012-07-27T21:02:14.509-07:00I always think the seemingly frivolous is likely t...I always think the seemingly frivolous is likely to be more enlightening... you just have to look harder. Thanks for sharing your discoveries!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-47443291699682730362012-07-27T03:50:50.386-07:002012-07-27T03:50:50.386-07:00Anonymous, I did find it a bit sad, because I'...Anonymous, I did find it a bit sad, because I'm in some ways resistant to change and love history. I guess I was used to oaths to God as a child that I didn't really subscribe to, as I was in a non-religious family but attended a Catholic school. It didn't even figure in my mind that much as anything significant, especially as it was something you said once. As the organisation relies on religious membership in the US (especially Mormons in Boy Scouting), it will be interesting to see whether the removal of God improves or reduces Guiding's popularity. Surely the option to remove the word for those with oppositions would have worked too.<br /><br />And thanks so much Online Fashion- it's always rewarding to know that someone is actually reading the blog!Michelle Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18350801340930174962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-86445131863111427882012-07-27T03:44:55.506-07:002012-07-27T03:44:55.506-07:00Thanks for your comment, Janelle. Yes, let's c...Thanks for your comment, Janelle. Yes, let's catch up soon. I am exceedingly jealous of your Barbie and the Rockers stage set. I never managed to talk my parents into any accessories like that, or the much coveted pink Barbie Ferrari. Your toys might actually be worth something now that 80s toys are being collected- if you've got any boxes with your toys they are worth a fortune. We need to take the stage set TO Oxford and photograph it in front of something highly intellectual. That would be the ultimate.Michelle Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18350801340930174962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-40397781662356630412012-07-21T23:57:38.850-07:002012-07-21T23:57:38.850-07:00Michelle, what an enviable trip! I look forward to...Michelle, what an enviable trip! I look forward to hearing all about your reading/window shopping endeavours when you get back. I still have my Barbie and the Rockers stage set, in neon pink. I was an only child who was very particular in caring for my toys, so I still I have a lot of things I probably should have sold in a garage sale by now... I'd gladly swap it for a trip to London and Oxford, though!Janellenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-9540584072948240652012-07-19T00:51:26.508-07:002012-07-19T00:51:26.508-07:00I read this blog it's a nice blog especially i...I read this blog it's a nice blog especially its content is awesome. Keep posting...Online Fashion Australiahttp://www.nakedfashion.com.au/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-36816013855799855312012-07-10T03:18:03.493-07:002012-07-10T03:18:03.493-07:00It is sad to see this happen, just to suit a few p...It is sad to see this happen, just to suit a few people. Our family was not religious but I had no problem sending my children to Guides and Scouts and with the Oath. One more nail in the coffin of Australia. Part of the breakup. Our heritage to be swept aside again. <br /><br />Why do they continue to keep the Queen's guide as the highest honour? how hypocritical.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-46936946488330903242012-06-07T10:26:13.427-07:002012-06-07T10:26:13.427-07:00Given Disney's popular brand all throughout th...Given Disney's popular brand all throughout the world, they must have invested a lot in its <a href="http://www.enviz.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">custom build exhibition stands</a> during the exhibition. I am a fan of their creations as well.Lena Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03970069829563088211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-42885142423768241882012-06-07T10:25:24.246-07:002012-06-07T10:25:24.246-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Lena Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03970069829563088211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-2224519014347849942012-05-31T00:20:56.830-07:002012-05-31T00:20:56.830-07:00Thank you for drawing attention to this! People un...Thank you for drawing attention to this! People underestimate the effect of toys on constructions of gender and identity. <br /><br />I enjoyed the references to pink as a "girl's colour" and blue as a "boy's colour". I am currently teaching in Korea where pink is very much a boy's colour, even at the all boys high school where I teach. <br /><br />There is nothing natural or innate about our notions of gender; everything is culturally constructed.daisyumbrellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10925873718962455234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-29905965985678383262012-05-30T13:02:34.569-07:002012-05-30T13:02:34.569-07:00Those accessories would surely make a good additio...Those accessories would surely make a good addition to my <a href="http://www.reinspire.co.uk/" rel="nofollow">t-shirt printing</a> skill. You can sew some of them and embed it into the t-shirt.angeliquehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07671153538259855303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-67867280253261698702012-05-06T04:38:46.739-07:002012-05-06T04:38:46.739-07:00Thank you soooo much for this information ! ^^Thank you soooo much for this information ! ^^Amynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3252300568370815502.post-47870043020319439332012-05-06T00:02:48.006-07:002012-05-06T00:02:48.006-07:00The fashion magazine did make fashion more 'de...The fashion magazine did make fashion more 'democratic' though - which intrigues me. Women who previously would have to rely on gossip to discover new trends were more able to 'keep up'. Earlier fashion dolls, used to spread fashion details, were largely for the wealthier fashionistas. And as you see the fashion magazine enter the twentieth century, it's interesting how it absorbs the realities of the working girls and women who had to be crafty about the house - the fashion magazine is followed pretty quickly by the knitting magazine. But I'm really interested in how your work is going to shed light on female beauty.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com