All the Toys for All the Kids. Is That Really SOOOOO Hard?

Last week, DC announced a new marketing campaign called “DC Super Hero Girls” (deets here).  The news came on the heels of justifiable backlash regarding the near complete omission of Black Widow, and complete omission of Scarlett Witch, from Ultron merchandise (way to screw the pooch, Disney, and way to cave Marvel who I have so recently been touting as a standard for diversity).

The pros:

DC is finally acknowledging that girls might like their heroes.

The characters are appropriately dressed for school age – middle school viewing (aka: boobs and butts covered, shoes you can walk in) and for young girls to cosplay.

The mission statement is encouraging:

“Each character has her own storyline…  including discovering her unique abilities, nurturing her remarkable powers and mastering the fundamentals of being a hero.”

I like that Lego is included as the “building partner,” though I’m hoping we get invisible planes and slick motorcycles instead of cell phones and the mall (Lego Friends, anyone?).

I like that there will finally be action figures of female heroes and I’m really hoping the bodies are as “athletic” as promised.

I’m pleased that there will be a line of books as well as digital content and maybe some comics featuring female heroes for the kids who aren’t slutty monster chicks.

The cons:  I question some of the hero/villain choices, at least as featured in the promo art.  One assumes that once the demographic in question outgrows the “DC Girls” line, they’ll want to stick with their hero besties.  Wonder Woman, sure.  Batgirl, yeah.  Bee, okay.  Ivy… minus some of the outfits and at least she’s an environmentalist.  Harley Quinn?  Harley is problematic, at least for a teenager to approach on her own.  Why?  She’s finally quit the Joker, but that’s a recent development and for a large chunk of her existence, she’s been in a completely one-sided and, worse yet by far, abusive relationship.  Should girls learn about this sort of thing?  Absolutely.  So they know how to avoid it. With guidance.  Katana?  Katana became a hero when her husband was murdered and, oh yeah, her sword EATS THE SOULS OF THE DEAD and they keep talking to her and she loses her mind.  More than once.  Often violently.

The digital focus is another *meh* aspect.  Yes, I know.  21st century.  I’m not a Luddite and, in fact, I like my tech quite a lot.  I have been been known to get the shakes when deprived of WiFi for more than a couple hours.  My kids are quite familiar with iPads (it annoys them to no end when my computer fails to respond to a screen swipe) and are allowed a reasonable amount of TV per day, a little more these days now that they’re hooked on PBS Kids.  I always question immersing kids in a digital world, however, before they’re well versed in how to get along in the real one.  With people and rules and appropriate social niceities.  I’m not saying everyone has to be the same — far from it, the most popular saying in our house is “weird is awesome” — but kids do need to learn to get along at some point, at least within a certain framework and to do that, they need to spend the majority time in the real world.  Also, books.  Books are good (be those digital or paper and cardboard).  Books are interactive.  Many a parent participates in the “book thing,” providing wonderful bonding time and a chance for kids to ask questions about things they don’t understand or that trouble them, for the parent to watch for cues that something is maybe a little too much or a little too soon.  The digital barrier removes that interaction and I fear kids may end up a bit adrift or frightened at a very impressionable time.

My main issue, however, is one I mentioned last year in the context of the Carnegie Science Center museum shop and their very clear delineation of “boys science toys” (most of a wall, primary colors, fun and explode-y), and
“girls science toys” (tiny section at the end, all pink, makeup and shit).  And this in a place claiming STEM is one of their priorities.

Target is just as bad: even the Legos are divided into boys and girls aisles.  I read somewhere a while ago that Toys R Us was going to move to a gender-free display model, but I avoid that place like the plague and I have no idea if it’s happened yet.

Super hero toys, fuck toys generally, shouldn’t be for boys or for girls.  They should be for kids.  This infographic sums my point up perfectly and you won’t have to read another Shiri rant:

My son asked for a “Justice League of shirts” a few months ago. He got it, Wonder Woman included; he wears her emblem and he wears it proudly.  My daughter loves her black and gold Batman pajamas. Stinky One thinks Poison Ivy is a great villain — boobs don’t factor in (not yet, anyway).  He loves Aviva, the inventor and engineer, on Wild Kratts (the lady in the yellow jacket).  He also loves Green Arrow and Captain America and fairy tales about kick-ass princesses (current favorite: The Well At the End of the World ), He wants to go on missions for Odd Squad boss, Miss O.

Stinky Two thinks the Kratt brothers are the best, frequently running around the house, activating her “creature powers.” She adores Hello Kitty, and sleeps under a Spiderman sleeping bag at night (like, literally under it).  She wears dresses she says “make me look like a princess,” with knee high Andrew McCutcheon Pirate’s socks.  She squeed over the Frozen Uno deck I got her today and begged hubs and I to take her to another baseball game.

Excluding girls is problematic, but in targeting marketing at them isn’t the answer.  In doing so, we are putting them into a rigid box (much like the Geek one I spoke of last week).  We are telling them: these are the superheroes (or cars or dolls or horrible pink baseball gloves) it’s okay for you to play with. Those, over there?  Oh, those aren’t for you.  And boys, by virtue of not fitting the standards of the “girl” box by virtue of biology and society are told the same about those toys over there. That doesn’t do either group of kids any favors.  In my opinion, it does them active harm because it reinforces the very stereotypes these companies purport to be busting up.

My daughter plays with Batman.  My son plays with Wonder Woman.  Because superheroes are for everyone.  So are Frozen Uno decks and Baymax and whiffle balls and Super Mario Brothers.

Everyone be who you are.

The world will be a much nicer place.