Last night at bedtime, I was chatting with Keira and asked her, during the course of a silly conversation, if she wishes she could be a boy sometime.
She started to get all teary-eyed and said, "No, Mommy!"
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because..." she sobbed, "I already have eyelashes, Mom!!"
It took me a second to realize what the heck she was talking about: take a look at Mickey & Minnie Mouse (Mice?), the girl M&M, and virtually every pair of male/female animated characters known to kid-kind. What do you learn from these images?
Girls have eyelashes and boys do not.
Now, I'm not one of those people who forbids her daughters to watch princess movies because they value beauty over accomplishments or encourage gender stereotypes or whatever--I figure we, as parents, can counteract that stuff alongside our patented "Just Because Dora Looks Sideways When She Runs Doesn't Mean You Can Do It (Without Crashing Into Things)" talks--but perhaps we should give some serious thought to banning all animated characters that encourage a completely crazy (yet adorable), eyelash-based perspective on gender differences...especially when they make little girls cry!
Who's gonna sign my petition?
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