Last year, Disney execs switched the title of “Rapunzel” to “Tangled” because they didn’t want to highlight the female star. They did this with no shame at all, to practically no protest, giving interviews to media outlets about their decision. So female stars are practically banned from kids’ movie titles but males are featured in them again and again and again? And this is OK? What message does this blatant sexism send to kids?
Here’s a list of 2011 movie titles that refer to the male star:
Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Hugo
Rango
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Puss In Boots
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
The Zookeeper
Kung Fu Panda 2
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Winnie the Pooh
Kids’ movies of 2011 that feature a girl in the title? One: Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer.
When girls are continuously, relentlessly relegated to supporting roles, both genders learn that girls are less important than boys. Is this really the message we want our young kids to learn when they go to the movies?
I have three daughters ages 2 – 8. We pay our $10 like everyone else. My kids want to know where the girls are. Hollywood, what should I tell them?
You can see Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girls Gone Missing From Kids’ Movies in 2011 here. The Gallery features 20 movie posters from 2011.
When girls in children’s movies are continuously relegated to supporting roles, both genders learn early on that girls are less important than boys. Is this the message we want to send to our kids when they turn on the TV, go to a movie, see a commercial, or buy a toy?
I’ve updated the Reel Girl’s Gallery of Girls Gone Missing From Kids Films in 2011 to include posters of movies not yet released when I originally put up the Gallery in July. The Gallery includes movies ‘appropriate’ for young kids. My three daughters are ages 2 – 8.
The last time I blogged about “Happy Feet,” in its first incarnation, I wrote about how the movie was yet another about a male and titled for a male. A commenter responded that Happy Feet is not, in fact, the male character star’s name. His name is Mumble. The commenter wrote that I was wrong to assume the title referred to he, that many penguins in this movie dance, thus they can all be Happy Feet. This is true. Feet, after all, is plural. We all have feet. So with this open frame of mind, I went to see “Happy Feet Two.”
Even I was seriously disappointed with this movie. Not only is “Happy Feet 2” a father-son story, which I expected, but there are no less than three subplots and guess what? All three are about male relationships with other males. Wow. And everyone says girls are the ones who care about relationships.
Subplot #1 is about an elephant seal trying to impress his 2 sons– did you get that part about two sons? Perhaps the seal could have had a daughter? Perhaps the seal with the big role could’ve been a mom? Impossible, I know, because in real life, male seals lead the pack. Never mind that this is a movie about penguins who sing and dance and talk to each other, it’s important that we all be realistic about gender roles in the seal world.
The elephant seal’s dilemma is that he refuses to “back up” to let the penguins pass. The dad seal does not want to back up because if he does, the lady seals will no longer be impressed by him. I kid you not. The dad seal ends up falling and Mumble saves his life. Later, the dad seal returns the favor for Mumble so the male buddy motif is expertly woven in to the father-son motif.
Subplot #2 Matt Damon and Brad Pitt steal the show playing krills. The animation here is absolutely beautiful and the imagination of picturing life from the krill perspective is impressive. But I honestly cannot figure out why the animators couldn’t push their imaginations just a little further and make the krills female. Even the real life krill world would be OK with the switch. Hardly a line of dialogue would have to be changed. The homoerotic subtext would work fine as lesbianism. I can’t think of a think of a single reason why the krills must be males except to give Brad Pitt and Matt Damon parts.
Subplot #3 The Mighty Sven (Hank Azaria) is a penguin who can fly. His talents are celebrated by all, especially Lovelace (Robin Williams) Lovelace tells the long story of how he met Sven and the adventures they shared, shown in flashbacks. Turns out Sven is actually a bird pretending to a penguin. Sven is another father figure to little Erik, as by the way is the other character voiced by Robin Williams– Ramon.
There is one intrepid girl penguin in the movie. I think her name is Bo. I really tried to listen for her name. Three kids go off together– Erik, Atticus, and Bo. It took me a long time to figure out that she was a girl because her name is hardly spoken while Atticus’s and Erik’s names are said many times. I would love to see this movie again just to actually count the times her name is mentioned as compared with Erik’s and Atticus’s. I won’t do this because there is no way I can sit through this movie again, but if you, against my advice, go see it, please listen for her name and let me know what you think. And when her name is said, it’s the androgynous Bo that makes me think Dukes of Hazard. Bo’s part is pretty small but not really small, and she does act bravely. It is for her, and only for her, that I am going to include one G for Girlpower in Reel Girl’s rating of this movie.
Bo’s mother, Miss Viola, has a small part. Erik’s mother, Gloria (Pink) also has a small part and the largest of the smalls for females. There is one more female penguin small part, Carmen (Sofia Veraga) who plays the curvaceous, sexualized love interest of Ramon. Gross.
“Happy Feet Two” is an obscene depiction of a world where girls hardly matter. Not only that, it’s boring. Do not take your kids to this movie. Reel Girl gives “Happy Feet Two” an SSS/ G rating (three S’s for Stereotyping, one G for Girlpower)
Let’s see, no school today and my daughters want to see a movie.
Is it too much to ask for one holiday movie to put a female character front and center as it does for male characters in all 5 holiday movies?
What about a mother-daughter saga instead of father-son one as in “Arthur” (Santa’s incompetent son) and “Happy Feet” (Mumble’s son can’t dance like he can)?
Or a girl buddy movie as in “Puss In Boots” (Puss and Humpty dream, go on adventures, and finally, transition)?
I don’t know what “Hugo” is about but something tells me not a girl.
Although I believe Sandusky probably did everything of which he’s been accused and more, I still wish the public would wait until he’s convicted to pass judgment on him. Furthermore, I wish they would take fuller account of the fact that pedophilia is a sickness and that their extreme vilification of people who act out this sickness and their hysterical reactions to this acting out are neither fair to the perpetrator nor helpful to their victims.
For it is no fairer to hate and condemn people for manifesting the symptoms of mental illness such as pedophilia than it is to hate and condemn people for manifesting the symptoms of a physical illness such as smallpox. Quarantine them to protect the public, but don’t hate them and take vengeful action against them the way the public clamors to do in cases such as Sandusky’s.
And when the public overreacts to molestations by calling them “filthy,” “monstrous,” and “ruinous” to their victims, not only are the victims more likely to feel more victimized than they would otherwise but also more injured by their abuse than if the public’s responses to it were more moderated. Moreover, it seems likely adults with pedophilic proclivities would be more inclined to seek help that prevents them from acting out if they knew they would receive a more compassionate response from society than the extreme demonization they actually incur.
Adults who molest children and children who are molested are both victims of mental sickness, and until we as a society understand this and act accordingly, not only will child sexual abuse likely remain pandemic, but both abusers and abused will continue to suffer more than is just or necessary.
I agree that molesting kids is a sickness and won’t even begin to go away until we recognize and treat it that way, just like cancer. This is why when I’ve written about this story, I’ve tried hard to come down on those who facilitated the cover up– and not just the people but the institutions we create. Again, the molester will not stop on his own; we all need to do much more as a culture to prevent child abuse. I wrote: “Until more adults stand up and protect these kids, take the risk– sadly and remarkably it is a risk– to say that sex abuse is happening and is wrong, we give it permission to go on.”
I also agree that when people call molesters “filthy,” “revolting” etcetera it creates an “us and them” mentality that isn’t useful and helps others to shirk any responsibility. There is a whole culture that reinforces sexualizing kids. It’s like when people vilify parents of child beauty pageant contestants but then totally buy into the princess culture. Where is the line? What part does everyone play? Though we may not know exactly where the line begins or ends, we want to distance ourselves from the molester who has clearly crossed it; calling him “revolting” accomplishes that.
Though in some cases, I do feel like strong words need to be used because people don’t get it. For example, Paterno had no clue how arrogant and offensive his retirement statement was.
As far as waiting to pass judgement until Sandusky is proven guilty or innocent, it’s hard to differenciate between judging the guy and finally listening to these kids who have been ignored by too many for too long. I, personally, am in a place where my priority is to help to give these kids a voice for the horrors they say happened to them. I believe these kids. If that makes me a judger of Sandusky, so be it.
I’m not into college football. I’ve never snapped towels in the shower. But I continue to be blown away by the distorted reality of this subculture.
The email McQueary sent to a friend — obtained by the Associated Press, reads as follows:
“You are the first person I have told this … and I don’t know you extremely well … and I have been told bye (sic) officials to not say anything ….”
“I did stop it, not physically … but made sure it was stopped when I left that locker room … I did have discussions with the official at the university in charge of police … no one can imagine my thoughts or wants to be in my shoes for those 30-45 seconds…trust me.”
“Do with this what you want … but I am getting hammered for handling this the right way … or what I thought at the time was right … I had to make tough impacting quick decisions.”
What is “tough” in the decision to stop the rape of a child and report the crime to police? Am I missing something?
On Monday night, Sandusky said in an NBC television interview that he showered with and “horsed around” with boys but was innocent of criminal charges, a statement that has stunned legal observers. Sandusky’s comments, they said, could be used by prosecutors trying to convict him of child sex-abuse charges.
“Mr. Sandusky goes on worldwide television and admits he did everything the prosecution claims he did, except for the ultimate act of rape or sodomy? If I were a prosecutor, I’d be stunned,” said Lynne Abraham, the former district attorney of Philadelphia. “I was stunned, and then I was revolted.”
“I could say that I have done some of those things. I have horsed around with kids. I have showered after workouts. I have hugged them, and I have touched their legs without intent of sexual contact,” Sandusky told Bob Costas. “I am innocent of those charges.”
When Costas asked him whether he was sexually attracted to underage boys, Sandusky replied: “Sexually attracted, no. I enjoy young people, I love to be around them, but, no, I’m not sexually attracted to young boys.”…
“What was especially astonishing about Sandusky’s interview is — and this will be the big moment in court — is when he stumbled over the question about whether he was sexually attracted to children,” said crisis management expert Eric Dezenhall, who runs a Washington consulting firm. “That may not be legal proof that he’s guilty, but it is certainly not helpful, to struggle with the question.”
What if every time sex abuse was discovered it got reported to police? What if people stopped reacting to it as a “private” matter? What if that reaction included other sex crimes, rape and domestic abuse? How much progress could be made towards actually making a dent in stopping these secret crimes?
CBS News reports that Citadel President John Rosa now says that the school is bringing in an outside company to review the procedures in handling such situations with an eye toward making improvements.
“We regret we did not pursue this matter further,” Rosa said.
So the Citadel publicly discloses sex abuse charges and then takes action to make change. This is good and why the silence at Penn State was so egregious. Keeping quiet gives others permission to keep quiet; going public gives others permission to go public.
Last week, of the Penn state scandal, I blogged:
The events at Penn State– the hubris, the network “brotherhood” of powerful men who covered up, the vulnerable kids in the ‘charitable’ organization Sandusky founded– should be examined to deeply understand how conditions that allow sexual abuse are created, supported, and institutionalized. The Penn State bubble was finally punctured at least for the Trustees last night, but look what it took: an arrest, a public scandal, and the threat of losing millions. And still Paterno and the Penn State students who are rallying and rioting for him fail to prioritize the victims.
Statistics show that 1 in 6 men is sexually abused before age 18. Where do these “bubbles” exist right now that we’re not all talking about? If we don’t start working harder to stop the sexual abuse of kids, if we don’t make that a higher priority, it will continue at these high rates.
Obviously, another bubble is the Citadel which shares conditions listed above. Rosa is disclosing the sexual abuse now for the same reasons he chose to keep kept it secret before: to protect his job and the reputation of the institution. This reflects an important shift. Now Rosa knows that to go public is better for him in the long run and for the institution he runs. Hopefully, he also understands that he needs to take action in order to protect victims and potential victims.
The horrible events at Penn State provide a national platform to acknowledge and change the way we react to sex abuse. Sexual predators won’t stop on their own and kids need someone to protect them. Sex abuse is widespread. Typically, a kid has to tell multiple adults he was abused before one helps him. Those are the kids who actually tell. Until more adults stand up and protect these kids, take the risk– sadly and remarkably it is a risk– to say that sex abuse is happening and is wrong, we give it permission to go on.
Here are some ways you can help to prevent child sex abuse. These recommendations are from Family Services. Similar lists are all over the internet, the basic message being the first step is don’t ignore that sex abuse happens; talk to your kids.
Talk openly with your children about sexual development, behavior and abuse. Include molestation or secret touching in a discussion of safety issues in general such as answering the phone, fires, injuries, getting lost.
Praise and give your child affection and develop the kind of relationship that would allow your child to come to you for help or support for any kind of problem they might need help with, for themselves or a friend.
Tell your children that touching other people’s private parts is not ok for children to do or for adults to do with children. Tell them that you do not want them to do secret touching with other people but that you will not be mad at them if they tell you it has happened.
Instruct your children to tell you or another supportive adult if anyone touches or tries to see their private parts, tries to get them to touch or look at another person’s private parts, shows them pictures of or tries to take pictures of their private parts, talks to them about sex, walks in on them in the bathroom, or does anything provocative that makes them feel uncomfortable.
Help your children understand that it is possible that they may know or meet someone with a touching problem who will try to make secret touching look accidental. Encourage your children to tell you even if it might have been an accident.
Tell your children that touching problems are wrong, like stealing or lying, and that the people who have those kinds of problems need special help.
Let your children know that molesters try to get children to keep the abuse a secret by giving them candy, money or special privileges or by making threats or making the children feel bad.
Help identify and encourage your children to have support people they can talk to at home, at school, in their extended family, neighborhood or church. Have them pick out three people and tell you who they are. Put the phone numbers next to your phone and let them know that, if for any reason, they cannot talk to you that they should call or go see one of these people.
Don’t let young male children go into a men’s public restroom by themselves.
Be cautious about who you allow to baby-sit or spend time alone with your children. Try to bathe and dress your children before you leave. Routinely quiz your children about what happens while you are gone. Ask questions like,”What did you do that was fun?” Was there anything that happened while I was gone that worried you or that I should know about? Don’t always tell your children to mind the babysitter.
Get to know the people and homes where your children play.
Periodically check on your children, especially when they are playing with other kids in your home. If you know that one of your children’s friends has been sexually abused, be more attentive to their playtime.
