Dora the Explorer vs. sexual objectification of women

That's IT! Prepare for a major rant on one of my niggling personal hates. Something I've just read online has kicked me way off the edge and I'm about to sound off.

ENOUGH apathy, it's time for me to dust off my opinionated-bitch hat that I seem to have forgotten about recently... An old schoolmate on facebook reminded me of the time the army came into our school to drum up interest in future recruits, and I was majorly pissed off because I thought it was wrong, and I was really outspoken about it. That's the old me! I used to be the one that wasn't afraid to be different say how I felt!

Well lets all give a warm "welcome back" to the old Rebekah 'cause she's about to speak up.

Lets start by warning you that I'm not some mental femenist extremist. I'm fine with porn and the like. What pisses me off big time is the way little girls are being bought up increasingly sexualised in the name of profit. I'm not saying this for some moral or religious end, sex is awesome and we all know it, and I wouldn't want girls growing up thinking sex is a bad thing.

No, what pisses me off about it is that no matter how brilliantly a kid's parents bring them up, they're still infected by this media-driven consumerist bile that makes girls (and boys) grow up with the idea that looking sexy (i.e. appetising to men) is their primary purpose, and any other talents or ambitions are secondary. Its all in the name of capitalism.

I'll give you an example of what I mean. Some feminists say Barbie is a bad and unrealistic role model for girls, that if her proportions were life-size she'd be about 9ft tall. I disagree. Barbie may be the stereotypical bimbo we all love to hate, but I have evidence that she was not just a pretty face. No, she has had a more fulfilled career than any frumpy career-obsessed feminist out there. Here are just a tiny few of the jobs our dear Barbie has enjoyed in her 59 year life of plastic perfection:

Doctor Barbie, Veterinarian Barbie, United States Air Force Barbie, Astronaught Barbie, Nascar driver Barbie, even Paleontologist Barbie! And if you don't believe me, here's a copy of her CV in Wikipedia article form: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbie%27s_careers

So we've established that I approve of Barbie. I have nothing against prettiness. At least Barbie and her plethora of top jobs shows girls that women can take on the same variety of careers and roles that men can. Trouble is, dolls like Barbie are actually on the decline. After being the top-selling toy for decades, she's been dethroned, and by the most hideous and disgusting little shits ever to disgrace the world of toys. That's right, Bratz. They've been the best selling dolls in the UK for a couple of years now.

"Bratz dolls come dressed in sexualized clothing such as miniskirts, fishnet stockings, and feather boas. Although these dolls may present no more sexualization of girls or women than is seen in MTV videos, it is worrisome when dolls designed specifically for 4- to 8-year-olds are associated with an objectified adult sexuality" - American Psychological Association

Oh yeah, and did I tell you their obsessive mantra, their primary slogan? "Passion for Fashion!!!"

Fuck that shit!

Seriously, for FUCK'S sake! Parents buy these things for their kids?! So an entire generation of girls is being bought up OBSESSED with ultra-sexiness and NOTHING else. And I'm NOT blaming men, I'm not in the field of thought that believes this is one big conspiracy run by males to subjugate women. No, this is not even about sex, it's about PROFIT.

I hate it! I absoultely fucking hate it! Everything that surrounds a girl as she grows up is drowning her in consumerism. Buy all these sexy clothes and products and make sure you see all the right films and spend money on all the right things, because that's the only way you'll ever be sexy, and that's the only way you'll EVER be valued by anyone. Advertising and the media says fuck careers, fuck ambition, no matter how intelligent or talented you are, you're NOTHING if you don't look sexy and own all these expensive things that will make you look hot.

Don't think I'm obsessed with dolls and toys. That's not what this is about. It's not just dolls. It's everything, kids are drowning in it. All the cute teen rom-com films where the clever, talented yet slightly geeky girl only gets her "happy ending" when she's had her hair-straightened, gone on a huge shopping spree (always accompanied by the same old cheeky lets-use-dad's-credit-card joke), become the sexiest girl in school, and won over the hottest guy in school.

Nearly every female protagonist in a kid's film(and "grown up" films too) is ultra pretty. The ugly woman is always the enemy or the bad-guys hideous love interest. Meanwhile, male protagonists can be as butt ugly as you want. A beast, an ogre, Quasimodo, doesn't matter because guys can be appealing on talent or personality, whereas if a girl isn't physically gorgeous, she's nothing.

Can I just tell you what it aws that inspired me to write this rant down? It was Dora the Explorer. Dora the Explorer has always been awesome, in my opinion. She's kind of a tomboy but still popular and cute. She does explorer-y outdoors things, makes friends, solves puzzles, speaks two languages and inspires kids to do the same. Little girls can watch and know that they're capable of doing all these cool things too.

But guess what? It's too good to be true. After all, she is the posession of a couple of the same corporations that bring us all the other shit, Nickelodeon and Mattell. Yep, they just made a press release announcing a "makeover" for Dora. Well, now they've got their "sister" show (ha) with Dora's male counterpart Diego continuing with the adverturey stuff, why waste what could be a massive profit maker, purely in the name of conserving a generation of girls' self-worth?

"The new Dora, who will be revealed in the fall, lives in the big city and goes to middle school. She still solves mysteries but she's abandoned outdoor adventure for shopping, jewelry and fashion."

I have now lost faith in humanity. They haven't actually revealed her new look yet, only a sillhouette as a little teaser. Check it out (beside the old outdoorsy tomboy Dora):





















That's not an image someone's made as a joke, that's the real thing sent out with their press release.

I'm actually lost for words at how stupid this is. I know you might think I'm totally overreacting, but I find this is just a symbol of our societies current values, this is just another example.

I know it might be ironic that I'm pretty vain myself, I like to look hot and I won't go into my sexual fantasies (which probably completely betray the essence of everything I say here). But the fact is that even if I could be the sexiest woman on the planet, I would never want to sacrifice personality, intelligence, or ambition. High-five if you happen to be both hot and clever, but if not, I'd rather be "intelligent and interesting yet ugly" than "beautiful and fashionable but dumb and shallow".

Ugh, it's so late at night, and I could rant about this forever. In fact, this is just a summary of something I've been theorising over and talking about quietly for a couple of years now. I struggle to write a 1500 word philosophy essay but I could easily write a real essay about this, including references and serious research.

I might come back to this with more examples of media ludicrousy later. Its not just girls that get this consumer brainwashing, but adults even more so, especially women. It's just that kids brains are too soft and squishy to resist advertising like we should be able to.

Who'd want to bring a child into a world that sucks as much as this? If you bring kids up in an anti-consumerist, non-conformist way, they'll just suffer cause they wont fit in and other kids wont like them. If you let their squishy brains get infected by the media brainwashing, then their lives will still suck cause their self esteem will be kept at a permanent low-level to create the pefect conditions for optimum profit.

I don't see any solution either. So, in conclusion, don't have kids! Anyway, all this opinionated ranting has made me tired. Hope I haven't bored you too much.

Night!

(Disclaimer: if I ever do or say anything which seems to contradict the opinions I've just written, whatever, we're all hypocrites sometimes. I still reserve the right to laugh at ugly people, turn myself into a sex object, work for an evil corporation if they pay me, or buy expensive consumer goods.)