Here's the second in my monthly columns for Charleston's City Paper. Two very cool people get shout-outs in the piece. One blogs at Life V 2.0--check her out. The other just appears as "Megan," so here's a picture for those of you who are regular blog readers so that you'll know exactly who Megan is.* She surfs every single day, she's a graduate assistant at Maybelle's preschool, and she's very supportive of Maybelle wearing a dress along with Spider-Man shoes. And she has crafty political talents that my article will tell you about. (And Maybelle loves her.)
Oh, perhaps this is also the place to admit that the facts in the article aren't entirely factual. By that I mean, I have two brothers, both of whom got the chicken-like Imperial vehicles from Return of the Jedi. They never got AT-ATs. Trey says the biggest toy they ever got was Voltron, but I wasn't jealous of that.
*Here's another piece of information about Megan: she really disliked the picture I previously had in this spot, so tonight we took some really good ones of her and Maybelle. She asked that I replace the old one with this one. She and I both like this one, and it's incredibly recent.
10 years ago
5 comments:
Thank YOU for including my thoughts in the piece.
Alison, my girls wear boy underwear all the time!
It is sturdier and I’m not wasting hand-me-downs.
In our house it is the boy clothes I worry about, I allow no commercial imagery (no Star Wars or Spiderman!) or anything that looks like it reflects admiration for war or violence. I’ll have to ask you to send me to the feminist take on those! Or maybe you’ve already written on that!
If parents are worried about kids being made fun of for wearing- say- boy underwear (which surely enough the teachers and other kids see), in my (limited, oldest is just 9) experience your kids get a lot cooler for thinking it is no big deal. I’ve heard 10 times “are you wearing BOY underwear?” My girls, very blase: yeah (then maybe they flash it a bit, they are young). I think this bodes well for their not being conformists in the future. (Though keeping them from commercial media as best I can is my main plan.)
But, speaking up for us parents who buy pink stuff for girls (maybe past toddlerhood) I just think we shouldn’t doubt that little girls might thrill to it the same as the little boy in the story. I feel as protective of little girls getting mocked for liking fashion as I do of little boys who get mocked for liking fashion. (So, kind of rabidly protective, as the mockery sounds exactly the same to me (even when from other little girls, plenty of whom don't like delicate stuff one bit: “You and your ruffles!”))
What I really meant to do, though, is just link you up to this. You'll love it. I hope the link works, and h/t to feminist philosophers.com: http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B004FTGJUW/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending
Thank you for your amazing column! It is just wonderful for Charleston to have you writing over there. I need to register over there and say so.
I don't think I got an imperial walker... If I did Trey stole it and convinced me that it was his all along (At some point during college he told me this is what he would do when he broke one of his toys since we almost always had matching toys).
However, Voltron was the coolest.
Way to call me out on my vanity Alison! Although this picture is a much more accurate representation of "A moment in time with Megan and Maybs."
Just for record, I did NOT read this before G's birthday party. My next post (don't hold your breath) will be how Matt came home with Disney princess paraphernalia ... and I sent him back to the store. Yes, I'll admit it was a princess themed party (long story), but it was to be a GENERIC princess theme.
...baby steps. I'm taking baby steps.
Also, I thought you when I saw this on fb: http://www.amazon.com/Thermos-Novelty-Lunch-Lights-Sound/dp/B0058OBGLU
Post a Comment