Hope for the Future: A Little Girl Who Hates Gender Stereotyping

Becky Sayers‘ found a lengthy rant on her ten-year-old daughter Eliza‘s bulletin board, and, with the kid’s permission, offered it to Jezebel, who happily ran it. For a ten-year-old, Eliza knocks it out of the park.

So today I was reading a Mini Boden magazine ( some place in Sweden), and the magazine people asked questions to the kids who were modeling. The one question that ticked me off was this question:

“What is the biggest difference between Boys… and Girls?”

Here are some answers that were in this “magazine”. Kian, age 6, “Girls Like dolls, and Boys don’t”. Oh okay I know what you’re thinking “Oh he’s just six!”. Well you better listen to this. Stefano, age 7, “Girls wear pink, and Boys wear blue and green.” Okay you’re probably thinking the same thing. “Oh he is just 7. Well here is another one. Aiden, 6, “Girls like nail polish; Boys like Soccer Balls.’ Yeah I know he is six too. But getting closer to the older ones. Asha, age 8, “Boys are rougher and stronger.” Yeah he’s eight. Not six, or seven. He’s eight. He’s got a brain. He’s smarter than six and seven yr olds. It’s kind of old to me, because I am turning 11 this year. Okay so now that I have listed those Boys’ opinions, I am going to list the reasons why I think they are stereotypical.”

Eliza would like everyone to know that she doesn’t like pink (although she’s fine with Pink), or dolls, and is lukewarm on glitter, at best.

For one thing though I do like nail polish, but not just Boys like soccer. For example my friend Heidi is a master soccer player. You mess with her, she kicks you in the shins, or maybe just trips you on the field. Seriously I think you should stay away. For reals.

This almost makes me wish my mom had put some of my rants on religion and philosophy up on the internet when I was a kid. Wait… wait no it doesn’t. But overall, it seems like Eliza is off to a good start in resisting marketing, right a the point in her life when she might start getting some spending responsibility. Good on ya, Becky. Have a nice mother’s day.

You can read Eliza’s full essay at Jezebel.

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Susana Polo

Susana Polo thought she'd get her Creative Writing degree from Oberlin, work a crap job, and fake it until she made it into comics. Instead she stumbled into a great job: founding and running this very website (she's Editor at Large now, very fancy). She's spoken at events like Geek Girl Con, New York Comic Con, and Comic Book City Con, wants to get a Batwoman tattoo and write a graphic novel, and one of her canine teeth is in backwards.

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