Societal Pressures

I have a niece. Which in part shows that there is a God, because a daughter is EXACTLY the sort of divine retribution my older brother has been earning his whole life. Can't wait for that little girl to get to be a teenager and start making his life hell, and plan to do my part, as Uncle Matt_of_LV. (I bid my time in the meanwhile by counting the months until Adam's son Corbin is old enough for me to give him a drum set for Christmas.) But having a niece - and also having a de facto god-daughter - I'm being exposed to interesting new concepts which relate to the female species, notably the societal pressures that get placed on young girls, and the programming that gets instilled by even simple things like playing with dolls, having tea-parties in the kitchens of play houses, and so forth. My mom in particular rails against the idea of Callie receiving any sort of gifts or toys that perpetuate gender stereotypes.

I think this whole topic dove-tails nicely with my ongoing thoughts on Nature vs. Nurture, which will someday be expanded to include discussions on evolution, epigenetics, and theories of human consciousness based on the Realities described by quantum mechanics (thank you, Neal Stephenson). If you want to hear about any of those topics, let me know; I'm much better about writing when I have people prodding me.

But in any rate, I though my Mom was over-reacting in her fears about Callie being the unknowing recipient of gender-role programming. The simple fact of the matter is the main feminine influence on Callie is going to be the girl's mom (my sister in law) who is distinctly NOT domestic, in any way, shape, or form. Add in that the girl's dad (my brother) is accurately described as the world's most highly educated auto mechanic. When he's not rebuilding classic cars, he does a little business as a doctor of chiropractic medicine, and if he gets bored with that, he's also a licensed radiographic technician. Oh, there's also the rural Oregon lifestyle, complete with heavy doses of outdoorsy stuff, paintballing in the rain, sports, and so on. With my brother as her dad (and with Corbin as her older brother; that boy is like a clone of Adam), Callie is going to grow up knowing how to fix cars, fight using a knife, fight without using a knife, operate heavy machinery, shoot strip and clean anything from a paintball gun though WWII bolt-action rifles and up to modern assault rifles, recite classic cheezy movies from memory (Willow, Major Payne, etc.), build a house, cook steak on a grill, cook steak on a campstove, cook steak on a campfire (Dad will be teaching the cooking skills; mom don't do that so much), play hockey, make effective use of cover during flanking maneuvers, and any other of a thousand things that no little girl would EVER be taught in any sort of society with rigid gender roles.

So, with this situation shaping my world-view, I really wasn't a believer in the idea that societal and/or family pressures are really all that much of a big deal for young girls. Based on the way my family works (which I admit is best described as functionally disfunctional), I thought the concept of girls being pigeonholed into domestic or secondary roles was a dying relic of a thankfully bygone age, and - from a practical point of view - was horseshit.

But as I was cruising Walmart last night looking for accessories for my Halloween costume, I saw things that absolutely, unquestionably confirmed the truth of all those societal programming concerns. Walking through the toy section (I was looking for flashing lights for my sceptre; don't ask), I came across the Barbie section, which initially looked pretty much like the one I used to hurry past on my way to the Thundercats and model airplane aisles at the Toys-R-Us on El Camino at Saratoga. But right next to this traditional Barbie display was what I can only describe as the "My Little Whore" playset.

Barbie herself was at least tacitly "mature." She was not a girl, she was a woman; he had a house, a car, and RV, and so on. But this new section's worth of toys might as well have been designed by Paris Hilton. Rows of dolls, looking and dressing like every dirty-old-man's idea of the teenage (preteen?) slutty tart. Fuck-me skirts - or schoolgirl outfits so small as to be the same thing - high heels, lots of bare plastic skin, and body structures on the dolls that, if translated into a life-size person, would best be described as 'improbable.' Like a group of the highest-class hottest bitchiest freshman sorostitute sluts from your college days, rendered down into 8-inch tall plastic figures. I seriously wondered how much of the sales of those dolls were going to 40-year old male perverts living in their parents' basement.

But that wasn't the worst part. Right next to the boxes of the My Little Whore dolls, there was the My Little Whore DRESS-UP SET, with a complete outfit just like the ones the dolls were wearing. It was a home hobby kit for girls to look like the worst of the tramps you see on MTV. It even included things to clip into your hair (in both blond and streaked blond/red-head colorations) with a narrow braid and poofy hair, so if your own natural hair wasn't enough to scream your pre-teen slut status, you'd still fit in with the rest of the girls; you can dress up just like My Little Whore, and even have the hair as well! For a little extra, you can also get the jewelery set, including the big hoopy earrings and the necklace that says "PRINCESS" on it.

I didn't look at the selling points on the dress-up kit, but it was probably stuff like "Now instead of just PLAYING with My Little Whore Dolls, you can BE someone's My Little Whore Doll!" "All your brother's friends will want to grope you! Your dad's friends too! Lose your cherry today!" Or "You'll move right to the top of the JV team's gang-fuck wish list! And if you get the optional jewelry kit, you can go VARSITY!" Who knows what sort of shit the Paris Hilton clone behind that product line will come up with.

I'm not sure that I have any real point to make about all this, since I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the idea that parents actually buy that sort of stuff for their three to six year old daughters (or at least that's what the sizing label on the dress said). My GOD people! WTF?!! Suffice to say that I am a believer in the idea that society always has and shall continue to work towards forcing people to conform to stereotypes and cultural and gender role. I'm sure a subsequent posting will address whether or not this is a bad thing.

But next time you're in a Walmart, take a quick cruise through the toy section and look at the My Little Whore aisle, right next to the traditional Barbie dolls. YOU WILL BE SHOCKED.