Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings...

Hamleys, LEGO and the new New Wave of feminist anger

Unsurprising that at this time of year there has been a huge backlash against the gendered toy industry.  Both sides seem to have been sharpening their knives.

There was the furore over Hamleys toy shop's decision to change the way it divided its stock into boys' toys and girls' toys after pressure from one particular feminist blogger:

http://delilah-mj.blogspot.com/2011/10/hamleys-toy-shop-promotes-gender.html

Then the outraged-right jumped on the band wagon:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8952627/Toy-signs-changed-after-Hamleys-accused-of-sexism.html

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100124017/hamleys-sexism-theres-no-point-pretending-kids-are-gender-neutral/

The second article above is written by Toby Young, co-founder of Britain's first free school (really, how much more convincing do you need that free schools are an awful and dangerous idea?).

The established feminist blogosphere has been chipping away dutifully at all sorts of dreadful gender bias in toy ads and toys.  Some have been mourning LEGO's early 80s approach to gender as demonstrated in the ads below:

Anger against LEGO's new line of "feminised" product and marketing has reached something of a crescendo with feminists blanket commenting LEGO's facebook page and setting up an online petition:

https://www.facebook.com/LEGOGROUP?sk=wall

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-lego-to-stop-selling-out-girls


The f-word website is full of heartfelt posts from desperate feminist parents regarding gendered toys:

http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2011/12/all_i_want_for

Anita from Feminist Frequency had lots to say about this last year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZn_lJoN6PI

And the Pinkstinks campaign has been gathering a fair amount of attention via facebook and other media: the women from Pinkstinks have made appearances on Loose Women, Daybreak and various local radio stations in the last couple of months.

The Guardian has been giving feminist voices a real hearing recently - whether it be the "pornification" debate:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/01/feminists-pornification-of-women

or the first ever "Muff March" organised by UK Feminista to highlight the issues surrounding cosmetic "designer vagina" surgery:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/09/muff-march-against-pornified-culture

So, are we in the midst of a new wave of feminist activism?  Against the pornification of young girls and women in general? Against limiting gender stereotypes in adverts and toy shops?  Against the absence of women characters in mainstream film?  Against the lack of women in positions of power and visibility in our news media? Against pressure on women to opt for dangerous cosmetic surgery in search of the "designer vagina"?

Let's hope so, eh?

Year 12 and 13 Festive Film responses

Please use this blog post to add comments regarding the films you chose to watch from my Christmas film recommendations.  I'm thinking Year 12 and 13 Media and Film students, predominantly, but anyone else who stumbled across my holiday viewing list can have their say too.

Comment away.  If you like.

Where are all the women?

Guardian article by Kira Cochrane, discussing the lack of prominent women in the media.  Great stats from her "content analysis".  To quote one of my students: "You'd think women have got it much better these days, but they haven't have they?"

Quite.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/04/why-british-public-life-dominated-men

And here's a Media Talk podcast which features Kira Cochrane and Maggie Brown discussing the article's findings.  Listen:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/audio/2011/dec/09/media-talk-podcast-women-in-the-media?INTCMP=SRCH

Pioneering gender-based study of the Beauty Myth in advertising

My friend Melanie sends me the coolest links.  Behind every Media teacher there is a hardworking, committed feminist making him look good!  Anyway, look what she done gone and sent me now:

Matt Zoller Seitz - video essay on Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee 1989)

Thought-provoking video essay - with link to transcript - which reiterates Jonathan Rosenbaum's suggestion that the film's argument is not a case of either/or, but both/and.  This argument helps us understand the closing quotations - the binary opposition between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.  Rosenbaum would argue that Lee is not inviting us to choose either King or MalcolmX, but prompts us to acknowledge that both King and Malcolm X have equally valid points to make.

http://www.thelmagazine.com/newyork/do-the-right-thing-is-about-much-more-than-just-race/Content?oid=1198065
(with thanks to filmstudiesforfree.blogspot)

And here's a link to the BBC4 documentary about Public Enemy which was shown on Friday 9th December.  Up for a few more days, I imagine.  Hurry now.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01805m3/Black_Music_Legends_of_the_1980s_Public_Enemy_Prophets_of_Rage/

Tropes vs Women #1 Manic Pixie Dream Girl

And while I'm on a blogging roll, here's the first of the tropes in the series - the one that covers everything from Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's to the unfeasibly named Clementine Kruczynski from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 

Tremendous stuff.

http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/03/tropes-vs-women-1-the-manic-pixie-dream-girl/

And here's the video if you like:

Feminist Frequency's Tropes vs Women #3 The Smurfette Principle

This page from the ever wonderful Anita Sarkeesian's Feminist Frequency website includes the video blog and a handy transcript, a list of related links AND a lively comment thread.

You know what to do...

http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/04/tropes-vs-women-3-the-smurfette-principle/

But if you just want the video:

Industry predicts the death of the CD by end of 2012? Crivvens!

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/12/cd_or_not_cd_that_is_the_quest.html