I was aghast to hear my four year old daughter playing with her dolls the other day. The dolls are not the problem; the story line was. Tuning in and out while she nattered on, I suddenly realized the dialogue went something like this:
First Princess: “Oh no! The evil witch is coming. We need Prince Sean!” (Sean is the boy she’s all but stalking at preschool).
Second Princess: “Oh! She’ll cut our guts out. Where are the boys? We need boys.”
FP: “Girls aren’t strongly brave. We shall die! Who will save us? Oh! It’s the prince. He’ll save us.”
All in a high-pitched and annoying ditzy soprano. It got so much worse than this, I had to sit her down for a chat. Where on earth was she getting this stuff?
I pummel her and her 7-year-old brother with feminist analysis of every medium they encounter, from billboards to story books to cereal boxes. I’m a single mom with a freelance career; they watch me struggle and kick ass everyday, all without help from a ‘prince.’ Yet, my daughter argues furiously with me that only boys are strong and brave and tough. She was actually offended when I called her a tough cookie after she’d done something cool. “I’m not tough, Mom! I’m a girl.”
It’s stupid to fight Mother Nature. You can do it for a while, but she’ll always wear you out in the end. It’s also hilarious to hear these strong, independent women trying to talk male. Ladies, you simply cannot struggle and kick ass at the same time. And by the way, what sort of feminist allows her daughter to play with dolls in the first place?