PinkStinks

A friend sent me a link the other day, and I couldn't believe how closely this organization's goal is to my own in my own senior thesis. As I explored their site, read about the women that created it, their mission statement, their role model of the month, and spent way too much time perusing their list of press links about their cause, I completely fell in love with Pinkstinks. They describe themselves as " a campaign and social enterprise that challenges the culture of pink which invades every aspect of girls' lives."

You can read all about them on their own website--I don't need to do any more copying and pasting, I think. Anyways, I think it's wonderful that there is a real movement like this on behalf of girls everywhere. They highlight people, including kids, that are making a difference--like Ebba and Phillipe who promoted awareness of a sexist Toys "R" Us Christmas catalog and created a real discussion with the giant company that now plans to produce a more gender neutral catalog.

What a positive and inspiring group. I look forward to following their progress and doing my part to contribute to Pinkstinks and bring awareness of the group to the US.

Senior Thesis

I am currently a few weeks away from completing an undergraduate degree in Cultural Studies. I am knee-deep in my senior thesis, right now, entitled "Beneath the Backpack: Uncovering Sexism and Gender Reinforcement in Dora the Explorer". Here is the preliminary abstract:

This research project analyzes the popular preschool television program Dora the Explorer and its marketed brand, including toys and furniture, in order to better understand the gender roles that Dora reinforces. By using third wave feminist media theory as well as semiotic analysis, this project uncovers the contradictory representations of Dora as empowered female role model as well as subjugated feminine subject and examines how the marketed Dora brand resolves this contradiction by favoring the traditional, passive and subjugated feminine role, reinforcing sexist attitudes beneath the progressive, popular feminist appearance of the show.

Whew. I know that's a lot, and it needs to be ironed out. All in all, I want to show how the Dora the Explorer presents an apparently positive role model for active and empowered young girls, but actually undermines Dora's power and agency within the show and further reinforces this message of subjugated and passive Dora through the marketed brand of toys and furniture which is centered around glamour, beauty, popularity, sexuality and caregiving. I'm in the process of moving from rough to final drafts, so I'm going pretty crazy, as you can imagine. The messages that we send to young girls and boys, whether subtle and subliminal or overt and obnoxious, severely limit the scope of "appropriate" behaviors and experiences for children, stifling their creativity and individuality. Girls especially are prone to negative messages from their favorite television characters and their toys because they are the marginalized and oppressed gender. I think it is important to be aware of the messages, intended or otherwise, of children's media and how they shape notions of gender identity.

More to come as the paper gets closer to publication.

The Point

The goals of this blog:

1. Critically analyze cultural images and productions in order to reveal the underlying heirarchical and patriarchal tropes that marginalize and oppress women as well as other minority groups.

2. Celebrate femininity, while being aware of the ways society uses femininity to limit, silence, and oppress women, in order to more actively express our chosen gender in an empowered way.

3. Provide information and access to other women, men and organizations that promote feminist and humanist ideals.

4. Generally rage against, rave about and relish in the things that make us human.

I hope to provide my readers with opinions, thoughts, and information that is not only thought-provoking, but conversation-starting. I want to create dialogues that inspire people to act on their curiosity, to learn, to educate themselves, to make informed decisions, and to begin conversations with others. The Feminine Dialectic should be a comfortable, safe, inviting place to share open-minded thoughts and informed opinions with others on the subtleties (and not-so-subtleties) of our society as well as share personal stories, anecdotes and beliefs about what it means to be a woman.

Oh, and I have no aversions to making fun of ourselves at every possible chance.