I was shocked to see Playboy Bunny cushions in the WH Smith Christmas catalogue in the girls section. As if my children would have one of those in their bedrooms ...
It's been going on for a while. Check any Argos catalogue from the last few years. Diaries, compacts, stuff like that. Exactly what changes, but there's usually something with the bunny on, often aimed at kids rather than adults. I never could grok it. I mean I know Playboy like to present themselves as the wholesome end of that stuff, beauty not porn or somesuch, but that's just bullshit.
In other news, a recent Care Bears episode tried but didn't quite get it: There were two male carebears and two female carebears, and two tasks, one to protect a lighthouse and one to look after some nappied carecubs. After a brief argument the girls get the lighthouse and the boys get the cubs. Excitement ensues. At the end they say - "Girls can do boys' jobs and boys can do girls' jobs" The flaw being to designate a job as either girls' or boys' in the first place, of course.
...which might work if society didn't engineer children towards being good at particular tasks based on their gender by segregating them and giving them different toys from when they're toddlers.
I can't get my head round the whole Playboy thing. I hadn't realised it was being marketed at little girls (there *are* advantages to not having a daughter sigh pout) but even seeing the stuff for women made my jaw drop.
I remember, some years back, wondering whether *any* woman would want her double bed covered in a Playboy logo... but obviously I was being too naive.
Well done Ailbhe for making a point! I suspect I would have just tutted and left...
Not much I can say apart from I agree with you completely. The extra pressure of sexualisation for preteens is something that has become more and more overt in the media since I was a child. Children don't need desensitizing to pornography. Especially by an adult and his company who are devoted to promoting an image of wholesomeness in what is essentially something that is inherently unwholesome.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 12:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 12:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 12:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 02:49 pm (UTC)I never could grok it. I mean I know Playboy like to present themselves as the wholesome end of that stuff, beauty not porn or somesuch, but that's just bullshit.
In other news, a recent Care Bears episode tried but didn't quite get it:
There were two male carebears and two female carebears, and two tasks, one to protect a lighthouse and one to look after some nappied carecubs. After a brief argument the girls get the lighthouse and the boys get the cubs. Excitement ensues. At the end they say -
"Girls can do boys' jobs and boys can do girls' jobs"
The flaw being to designate a job as either girls' or boys' in the first place, of course.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 03:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 03:39 pm (UTC)AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 07:09 pm (UTC)I was very angry.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 08:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 08:16 pm (UTC)(Er, them, not you.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 08:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 08:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-27 10:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-28 09:41 am (UTC)I remember, some years back, wondering whether *any* woman would want her double bed covered in a Playboy logo... but obviously I was being too naive.
Well done Ailbhe for making a point! I suspect I would have just tutted and left...
(no subject)
Date: 2007-11-28 01:43 pm (UTC)