cinderella ate my daughter

Well i know i am a little late on getting this blog done but as i was going through my checklist this was an assignment i had missing. better late than nothing at all i guess. I remember being a little girl and having a ton of dress up clothes, many of them "princess" dresses, more barbie dolls than ever needed, and even a pink barbie corvette. I had all sorts of pink belongings. i even remember me and my brother having power ranger costumes and naturally i had the pink one. although the orenstein's article was entertaining and interesting to read i had a very difficult time relating to it. I do understand her point of view and her concerns and feelings but i don't personally feel that being gendered and playing with certain toys has had anything to do with i was as a teenager. Maybe this is because i had a brother and so i had the option to also share his toys with him...but i do not remember him ever wanting to share my toys. While i also liked to play dress up from time to time i never really let the whole princess stories get to my head, i was just more concerned about getting dressed up and putting on shows for my stuffed animals and dolls. I personally never really started to have concerns about image until i was old enough to start reading teen magazines, and watching teen shows and started to have an interest in boys. I understand where orenstein is trying to argue, but i feel like each individual girl or boy learns differently and some kids are more sensitive than others. Not all girls who play with pink toys and barbie dolls are going to have a negative image about themselves or become some "princess" in adulthood. i just think that children should not be limited so they can all learn and explore equally with any toys they want. i also know that when i have children i'm sure i will be guilty of gendering them but i don't necessarily think that this will ruin them. i think it also depends partly on how that child is socialized with others and how they view the roles of their own parents. Then once they get older there are a whole new set of issues that are more harmful for them to worry about. like i said i had a tough time connecting to this article and have very mixed feelings about it, so doing this blog was a little difficult for me.