Photo courtesy of Jezebel.com
Let’s talk about female stereotypes.  Last week we shared a story with you about the J. Crew advertisement of a mother painting her son’s toenails pink and the controversy that enused as a result of gender roles being challenged through this ad.
Well we just got word from Jezebel.com about Ten year old Eliza Sayers who wrote a letter to The Mini Boden catalog urging them to “STOP BEING SO STEREOTYPICAL!”
According Eliza’s letter (though I think she got some help), the magazine asked questions to the kids who were modeling. The one question that ticked her off was this question:
“What is the biggest difference between Boys and Girls?”
Here are some answers that were in the magazine that got Eliza’s blood boiling:
- Kian, age 6, “Girls Like dolls, and Boys don’t.”
- Stefano, age 7, “Girls wear pink, and Boys wear blue and green.”
- Aiden, 6, “Girls like nail polish; Boys like Soccer Balls.’
- Asha, age 8, “Boys are rougher and stronger.”
Check out what little 10 year old Eliza has to say about these answers and why she thinks they are so stereotypical. Â Go Eliza! Â Perhaps you and Beckett from the J.Crew should get together for pedicures, just as long as Beckett lets you use a polish color other than pink.
Thank you for posting– I can assure the blog as her mother she had zero help on the letter– I honestly thought she was just trying to get out of cleaning her room 🙂 before a house showing we were having. And she probably was :), and then it turned into something more as she thumbed through the catalog. She asked me to read an “editorial, and I had no clue what she meant. The next day I found it pinned to her bulletin board in her room and read it. I felt terrible for not reading it sooner and had to rectify it by sharing it w/ Jezebel ( one of my favorite blogs) and telling Eliza how proud we are. I was thrilled that Jezebel wanted to print it. She has written many things I’ve shared on facebook with my friends. She is a great little writer ( I salute her teacher for encouraging her students to creatively write often) and super smart/ intelligent/ confident kid :). I admit I had no idea how much it would resonate with so many people. I wish I had gotten her a laptop sooner 🙂 She inherited my old one last month.