Indoctrination from the crib!

La Presse, on how to pick an appropriate Christmas present for a girl aged 0 to 4 years old:

Les fillettes apprécient en général les items féminins et empruntés à la mode pour adultes, comme le boléro, le poncho, la jupe paysanne et la minijupe plissée. La collection Oiseaux d'amour de Souris Mini propose des vêtements chics et coquets tels que des jupes de laine bouillie, la blouse-boléro et son pantalon à frisons assortis. Les fillettes adoreront aussi les collants et les accessoires.

I'm sure girls as young as this really do prefer "feminine grown-up fashion." Yeah, right. I'm sure they do.

(As opposed to, say, capitalism and patriarchy.)

*sigh*

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I guess I just never really understood the social pressure to clearly identify the gender of infants and very young children, by dressing them up in stereotyped uniforms.

Baby boy in a baby blue outfit with boats and cars... Baby girl in a light pink ensemble with lace/fur/frizzy stuff, with kittens, shoes, little purses and whatnot...

Is it just easier for people to interact with other human beings who are so categorized and identified, when there are clear assumptions about how people who belong to a given category are expected to behave?

If, at that age, it's impossible to tell apart a boy from a girl, but for the way they're dress or the length of their hair, why bother dressing them differently? The only plausible answer to this question is: so as to make sure that people will treat them differently.

Different "but equal," of course.

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Click here to read a very good post by a feminist mother-to-be, who's trying to sort this all out.

Call for Proposals: Hon. Claire L'Heureux-Dubé Fund for Social Justice

The University of Ottawa, in collaboration with the Hon. Claire L'Heureux-Dubé Fund for Social Justice has called for groups of young women under 30 to submit proposals with respect to the organization of a 3-day event about "Young Women, Feminism and the Future", to be held in 2008. The Fund offers a maximum of $40,000 to the selected project.

The deadline for application is May 31, 2007.

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You can learn more about the life and legal career of the Hon. Claire L'Heureux-Dubé here, and here.

For those who are not familiar with her work on the Bench (yep! the "capital-B" bench!), here are a few cases where she kicked ass:

• R. v. Ewanchuk, [1999] 1 S.C.R. 330;
• Symes v. Canada, [1993] 4 S.C.R. 695;
• R. v. Esau, [1997] 2 S.C.R. 777;
• Canada (Attorney General) v. Mossop, [1993] 1 S.C.R. 554;
• R. v. Starr, [2000] 2 S.C.R. 144.

Freaky Conservative Parents

Anyone who still doubts that boys are educated to become physical, violent men, while girls are socially conditioned to become passive and uninteresting creatures, should have a look at Doug Philips's blog, located at Vision Forum.

Once you get past his apparent obsession with the the British colonization of America (and the various forms of re-enactment thereof), you discover Doug's wacky ideas on sex segregation in education. His blog links to the "All-American Boy's Adventure" catalogue, in which almost all the toys and games features are related to war or consist in toy weapons.





















("Awwwn! Look at that cute patriotic kid! Lovingly playing with guns, tanks, blackjacks... hum... How could such an innocent creature possibly become a violent mysogynistic, wife-beating monster"?)

The website also refers its audience to a catalogue of girl "toys", called "Beautiful Girlhood". Except for a line of old fashioned dolls, the "toys" actually consist of books about being an obedient daughter or about how to become a "godly" wife, tea sets, sewing supplies, cooking accessories, and colonial era dresses.

So here's the bottom-line kids:

If you're a boy, go play outdoors, and practice your fighting, stabbing and shooting skills from a young age. You never know when your pre-school militia might be needed to fend off those evil British Loyalists!

If you're a girl, just shut up, smile, and keep your hands busy with meaningless work so you can avoid thinking about what to do with your life, or lusting about your future husband. 'Cuz that would be, you know, ungodly and all...

Growing up as equals

Feminists rant a lot. From a feminist's point of view, there is, after all, lots of things to rant about. We'll rant restlessly until our job's done, and chances are we'll continue to rant afterwards, just to keep things in check.

But sometimes, there comes a time to cheer, and feel that there is hope at the end of the day.

Du Côté des Filles is a French organization whose goal is to raise awareness of the gendered social conditioning of girls through culture generally, and through educational materials and children's literature.

The name of the organization itself is derived from "Du Côté des Petites Filles", the French translation of Elena Gianini Belotti's 1973 study on the assimilation of stereotyped gender roles by little girls through social norms, education and play.

Du Côté des Filles also encourages healthy, pro-feminist alternatives to stereotypical fairy tales. (Is it still necessary to point out that Prince Charming is guilty of sexual assault, or at the very least, of attempted sexual assault on Sleeping Beauty and Snow White?)

My favourite story is "Rose Bonbon", which features a young female elephant, Pâquerette. In a world where all male elephants are grey and all female elephants are pink, Pâquerette is an outcast who, despite all her efforts to follow the rules and be like all the other female elephants, is incapable of turning Pink. When her parents finally give up on her, Pâquerette is free to venture out of her garden and play along her male peers, and eventually finds her true happy self.

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For more thoughts on the matter, have a look at this series of posts on sexism in games marketed to children and teenagers.