You’ve got to read this post At Stride Rite, girls are pretty and boys are active by Rebecca Hains about how shoes are marketed to girls versus boys. Check out the photos. They are really amazing. Here’s just one:

Parents, you buy your kids shoes. You have the money. Do not cave into this. It is a big deal.

If you’ve been reading my M & Ms posts, the main physical difference between the hyper-sexualized females and the playful, funny males are shoes. The males get sneakers; they can move. The females get heels; then they straddle trees and pose for SI Sports Illustrated.

I saw the link to Hain’s shoe piece on three descriptors and other such nonsense. That blogger takes her daughter outside to play everyday. Totally admire that. I am going to try harder. As I told three descriptors, it’s easiest for me when my kids are quiet, reading or doing art, but every time I actually get myself outside, I love it. I live in California for God’s sake. And in the long run, it is better for me, too, to get them out because my kids are happier.

Thanks to all the mom bloggers for writing about this stuff and being aware. It’s the first step.

Reel Girl rates Stride Rite ***SSS*** for major stereotyping.

Yesterday, I blogged about how, except for the pink ghetto, female characters marketed to kids are usually shown as a minority. They are also sexualized. See the M & Ms below as a typical example. Ms. Brown, the new female M & M character, also shown in heels, is missing from this photo. You can see her here.

I wrote about how presenting females as a minority is dangerous because it normalizes invisible women. Adults stop noticing that girls have gone missing. So do kids.

Females are 51% of the population but we manage to make the illusion of a female minority real when it comes to power positions across America. At the top, women are stuck at 16%.

Where else are females a minority? In the imaginary world, a place where singing lions befriend warthogs, rats can cook, and toys come to life, where anything should be possible. So why is the animated world so sexist? Why do the female M & Ms have to be in the minority, wear high heels, and bat their eyelashes? Why is this OK with parents? What is this gender stereotyping teaching our kids?

A couple things happened after my blog yesterday.

I got even more than the usual amount of hate emails on SFGate: Who cares about M & Ms, I’m stupid, I’m ugly, I can’t write blah blah blah.

Then I saw on FB someone had blogged on About Face about the same sexualized M & Ms issue and was asked by her sister: who cares?

And finally, my daughter is turning three this week. When I went to Party City this morning, I was greeted at the door by a giant green M & M in go go boots. Every kid who walks in the store sees that. It is messed up. It’s no better than that cartoon Camel selling cigarettes to kids. Sexualizing girls is dangerous, and it needs to stop.

So, if you think the above picture is messed up, if you think female M & Ms should be allowed to wear sneakers and run around just like the males get to do, please go to M&Ms Facebook page. Ask M & Ms to stop sexualizing cartoon characters. It’s bad for kids.

Reel Girl rates M & Ms ***SSS*** for extreme gender stereotyping.

It’s so great that a female architect designed and gets to intro the new LEGO Town Hall set. Here’s the video.

Do you think this architect is grateful she didn’t have to play with the ridiculous Friends set when she was a kid?

But my enthusiasm waned when the architect introduced the minifigs. First comes the Mayor, the boss and the most important one, the star of the set. He’s male. (We see his cool office inside as well.) Next comes his secretary, guess what gender?

I was spacing out listening to this video and the reason I even started to pay attention was I heard the architect was going on and on about “a new print on her torso and there is this old tradition that you have to wear something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. And she’s wearing a new necklace and yeah, a new print.”

I did a double take and realized she was talking about the bride. Specifically, her dress and accessories.

LEGO deserves kudos for letting a female intro this set. When she comes on she says: “I bet you’re surprised to see me,” so I’m thinking its the first time she’s gotten this role.  I hope she had a big role in the Town Hall design as well. But LEGO, please try to break out of the gender stereotypes with your minifigs. Remember, you’re marketing these characters to kids. You’re giving kids tools for fantasy play and showing children what they can be when they grow up. Except for the “lady reporter” the adult figs are all limited to “traditional” gender roles. What about a female mayor and a male secretary? Would LEGO ever consider that?

Reel Girl rates LEGO Town Hall ***G/SSS***