My letter to the New York Times about girls gone missing from movies for children in 2012 is printed in today’s Magazine.

I’m thrilled that my letter is in a national magazine with the reach and audience that the New York Times has. It’s a tiny step, obviously,  but I’m hoping that more people, and parents especially, will start realizing and reacting to how sexist kidworld is. Almost every time children go to the movies, they learn that boys are more important than girls.

I wrote to The New York Times after reading the Magazine’s cover article by chief film critic A.O. Scott titled “Year of the Heroine Worship” which claimed that 2012 was “a pretty good year for female heroism” in the movies.” A couple days before that piece came out, I posted Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girl’s Gone Missing From Children’s Movies in 2012 on this blog.

Here’s my letter in today’s Magazine:

 What about movies for children? I have three young daughters. Aside from the pink ghetto, kids’ media — whether PBS or Disney — put male characters front and center. Female characters are sidelined or not there at all — just look at the posters for children’s movies (with the exception of ‘‘Brave’’). There is no reason for the imaginary world to be sexist.

Margot Magowan, San Francisco, posted on nytimes.com