NY Times Once upon a time, Grace Maher twirled around the house in Disney princess costumes, a vision of sequins, tiaras and pink.
She’s 8 now and done with all that. The only pink left is her new bow and arrow.
That
would be her Nerf Rebelle Heartbreaker Exclusive Golden Edge Bow by
Hasbro, a petunia-colored weapon with gold and white trim that shoots
colorful foam darts. Forget Ariel, the beautiful mermaid princess.
Grace’s new role model is Katniss Everdeen, the (also beautiful)
huntress/survivor in the “Hunger Games” trilogy of books and movies.
Heroines
for young girls are rapidly changing, and the toy industry — long adept
at capitalizing on gender stereotypes — is scrambling to catch up.
Toy
makers have begun marketing a more aggressive line of playthings and
weaponry for girls — inspired by a succession of female warrior heroes
like Katniss, the Black Widow of “The Avengers,” Merida of “Brave” and
now, Tris of the book and new movie “Divergent” — even as the industry
still clings to every shade of pink. [...]
These things go through arches. When Dora The Explorer came out it was praised for portraying the female lead as a tomboy, encouraging girls not to be all princess-y.
ReplyDeleteThen Princess Dora stuff started coming out.
The same happened to Mulan, the Disney heroine who tried to disguise herself as a boy in her movie but is now a rank and file Disney princess.
Katniss may have started as a kick-ass girl but lately she's been Rosalyn Rosenfeld. V'mayvin yavin