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Original poster

Mr Men and Little Miss books

45 replies

Wombat44 · 13/08/2016 18:24

There are some new Mr Men and Little Miss books, and how exciting they sound. There's Mr Marvellous, Mr Adventure, and Little Miss Fabulous - who has fabulous long hair Hmm

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/12/fabulous-news-mr-men-and-little-misses-get-fresh-set-of-companions

OP posts:
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MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 03/10/2017 11:56

Zombie thread, revived by someone who's now been deleted....

SolidarityGdansk · 03/10/2017 10:11

We had a a few and they are the most boring and dull children's books to read out loud.

I tried a few times and just gave up.

There are so many wonderful picture books out there that are a delight to read to the DC. I'm amazed that these are still in print.

Ifitquackslikeaduck · 03/10/2017 09:52

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Badweekjustgotworse · 03/10/2017 09:49

I'm with op as well, those posters saying that mr marvellous and mr fabulous are equitable obvioulsy are just having an anti feminist knee jerk reaction. As so eloquently pointed out by a pp me marvellous is marvellous because of how skilled he is, miss fabulous is just fabulous because she wastes all her time preening herself for the male gaze and achieving nothing of any actual merit.

BartholinsSister · 03/10/2017 09:15

Slightly off-topic, but I recommend reading the reviews of Mr.Men books on Amazon by Hamilton Richardson.

biscuitbadger · 03/10/2017 08:00

I'm with you OP.

For those who think it doesn't matter, of course one small example doesn't matter, but it's a part of a bigger picture. I can recommend the recent BBC programme 'No more girls and boys', if it's still on iPlayer, to get an idea of the impact this stuff has on our kids.

Youcanttaketheskyfromme · 02/10/2017 20:51

Interesting.

I liked the old ones as a kid. I obviously did get they were meant to be male and female but I also sort of thought of them as cartoons and therefore not really real. But I don't think we had anything quite as ridiculous as little miss fabulous then.

Little miss tiny yes. I liked her. I was tiny. I felt represented Grin. But I agree the message from these new ones seems to have quite a gender bias.

genderresearcher · 02/10/2017 19:46

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BrillianaHarvey · 28/08/2016 22:52

Oops missed the second page so my comment is a bit of a non sequitur. It was meant to follow on from BungoWomble's 'our daughters are being crowded out and being forced back into dependence.'

BrillianaHarvey · 28/08/2016 22:50

And infantilised. It's not 'Little Master Marvellous', is it?

MsKite · 21/08/2016 21:16

Sounds a bit frivolous really Buffy. Maybe try and get it cut in a humourless style?

BuffytheReasonableFeminist · 21/08/2016 21:03

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JacquettaWoodville · 20/08/2016 23:00

Of course not, Anchor!

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 20/08/2016 22:46

My hair is waist length. It looks awful short and I like it long, anyway. It's silky and a lovely colour.

Will I be banished from MN?

AnIbisIsWatchingMe · 20/08/2016 22:40

Imagine what Little Mr Ponytail could be like. Or Little Mr Man-Bun.

MsKite · 20/08/2016 21:57

😮

BuffytheReasonableFeminist · 20/08/2016 21:21

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MsKite · 20/08/2016 16:12

I've never seen long hair on girls being criticised very negatively on these boards Confused

LassWiTheDelicateAir · 18/08/2016 06:54

Miss Fabulous is interesting. I'm still not sure what is so awful about her ( cue response " you must never comment on a little girl's appearance") but presumably there are other characters which are just appearance based?

Long hair on girls seems to cause this board a bit of a problem- it's usually criticised very negatively; which seemed a bit strange given I've seen at least 2 threads lauding a mother for refusing to bow to pressure to cut her little boy's hair.

TheDowagerCuntess · 17/08/2016 21:28

People seem to think sexism springs out of nowhere - that boys (as a group) become men* (as a group), and suddenly they morph into brand new beings, prone to explicit and implicit sexist behaviour.

It doesn't spring from nowhere, which is why Buffy's question is an important one. Trying to explain it to people who will not see it is pointless massively frustrating, though.

*Not all men are like that.

BuffytheReasonableFeminist · 17/08/2016 18:42

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BungoWomble · 17/08/2016 17:37

Echoing Jacquetta, Ursula Le Guin talks of womb-envy and high status positions as compensation for non childbearing in one of her short stories. The one about churtening. I love Ursula le Guin!

It may just be a series of kids books, but it is one of the symptoms of sexism in our culture. Sexism seems to be increasing at the moment and it is certainly targeting the young. We did not have this level of gender differentiation for youngsters in the 70s and 80s. In a context of disappearing jobs and resources women are right to be concerned that our daughters are being crowded out and being forced back into dependence.

Original poster
Wombat44 · 17/08/2016 17:03

The article says:

"Mr Marvellous is “simply a marvel”, able to cook better than Mr Greedy, outrun Mr Rush and even out-tickle Mr Tickle...

Clad in high heels, meanwhile, Little Miss Fabulous has “fabulous hair … long and luxurious and silky, and it shone in the sun like gold”, "

In other words, Mr Marvellous is marvellous because of his skills, while Miss Fabulous is fabulous because of her looks. Totally different emphasis.

OP posts:
LassWiTheDelicateAir · 17/08/2016 16:02

The books looked as dull as ditch water. I don't recall having any, but what exactly is the difference between "marvellous" and "fabulous" that is causing so much ire?

They are both nonspecific, non-sexed superlatives neither of which are now used literally.

JacquettaWoodville · 16/08/2016 19:15

The oppression of the childbearing class by the non childbearing class in an attempt to secure certainty of paternity, raising of offspring and caring duties for the family group?