Second Grade Sexism

So today, after a fabulous evening of gingerbread cookie baking and Pokemon movie watching with one of my best friends, I came to a little realization. We were discussing the "science" behind Pokemon and how that topic never really seems to crop up for the characters when it hit me... why not? Where else does science come into play in children's entertainment?


For boys, comic books are filled to the brim with pseudo-science; it may be absolute bullshit, but attempts at reasonable explanations are taken, although they often involve crazy radioactive asteroids and giant mutant spiders. But the point is, they get them. Animators and writers decide that these forms of entertainment, vehicles geared solely towards prepubescent boys, are worthy of having a back-story that is based at least a little bit in reason, that allow the reader to accept something through logic and explanation. Nothing just IS, everything has a rhyme and reason, even if said rhyme and reason is dictated by pink intergalactic space police with giant heads.

But what about girls? Do we not deserve that same sort of explanation? Apparently not. Think back to every Disney movie you've ever seen. Specifically the Disney princess type film you were probably in love with as a kid. (I realize that this same pseudo-science can be found in movies like Treasure Island and Atlantis, but those are gender-neutral, leaning towards the male audience type films.) Can you think of a single instance in which an explanation of an event in a female geared Disney movie does not involve magic, the absolute anti-thesis of reason? Me neither. Because they don't exist. Outside of the gender neutral films like Nemo, Wall-E, and other newer additions to the Disney canon, magic is present in every single film. Even in Mulan, the most feminist of Disney tales I grew up on, she's watched over by a magic dragon and a lucky cricket. Sure, she does most of the stuff herself, but they're still there. For the most part, from Cinderella's fairy godmother to Pocahontas's crazy talking tree, things just are. If the question comes up, it's answered by a wave of some random chick's magic wand, and things are back to the happy-go-lucky, ask-no-questions, just-keep-swirling-your-skirt-around-and-cleaning-and-singing-like-an-adolescent-chickadee sort of thing that existed in the beginning. 

Obviously this isn't some crazy life changing revelation, but it was something that really struck me because I'd never noticed it before. As someone who grew up an odd mix of girly girl and quasi-boyish (I adored Snow White and Hal Jordan just the same, but for different reasons. She had a glorious singing voice and he had a ring that could create anything he imagined... Notice the imbalance?) It's never something I really had to deal with, but it really got me thinking... what kind of lesson is this continuing to teach our children? That it's okay for girls to just sit back and let things happen to them because Prince Charming or a fairy is going to come along and save them without worrying whether or not they know a thing for themselves? Clearly that's not the intention, but still... How young is too young to indoctrinate children to the ideas of these antiquated gender roles? And can they ever truly stop existing if we keep implanting them so early?