Not so 'Mighty girl'

[Russettbella1000]

Hi I just wondered if anyone felt the same...??

I remember someone once talking about how good 'A mighty girl' was for the promotion of female strong characters etc. I duly followed them on facebook/Twitter etc but became more and more disillusioned with the constant stream of marketing which to me just felt like yet more conditioning....Good points like the fact self-esteem in girls needs to be improved would be followed by promotions of this book or that book which in a way seemed to undermine the ability of anyone to do this without some kind of material support. To my mind, people need to trust themselves more and just do things because they are morally right. The gender imbalance in our world is just plain wrong so why can't people act without the need to buy, buy, buy...To me that creates just more slaves in an unequal system.

What made me more suspicious was if anyone actually tries to challenge them on their twitter page or facebook, it simply doesn't get printed. I find that quite creepy tbh and made me wonder just how genuine the site is. Is it really interested in highlighting gender imbalance or does it simply interested in making a fast buck?? It wouldn't surprise me if some big 'Disney-like'corporate was behind it.

Anyway, I challenge anyone else to enter into a debate which even slightly questions the intentions of this company, I guarantee it will not be printed. All that appears are positive affirmations for the ideas promoted. This is all great of course when it's just ideas but when you can't have equality without being sucked into a marketing campaign I serious question its good.

Interesting.

I have friends who rave about it, but there's something about them which irks me, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it's the focus on strength, speed, fighting (superhero-style, obv) and a sort of sneery attitude towards quiet, sedate pastimes. Maybe that's just me, though.

I follow them and by and large I like the stuff they post. I've never commented though.

Oh and don;t get me wrong anything that gives 'another' view is positive, I suppose but to me it's just lip-service to the 'idea' of equality BECAUSE there is money in it not for the intrinsic moral duty to ensure positive promotion of girls however they 'present' :0).......And of course girls/women are multifaceted just like men....The idea of gender anyway is debatable.....e.g butch women, camp men, macho men, feminine girls, feminine men, weak men, strong women blah di blah. There all just boxes made to restrict/suppress real people!

This maybe related too but my daughter currently wears lots of pink (mainly because she's in hand me downs but of course too because that has been the colour 'assigned' to girls so there's sometimes no real choice available). Obviously where we can, I try to ensure she can make a choice... Also, although I do join in on the 'bloody pink' conversations and wish there was simply more choice I look forward to when people will just take pink for what it is - a colour but of course people don't and there are times when I think the pejorative view of pink is yet another mocking of girls which you don't get with 'blue'....I'm probably taking this a bit far now eh?

The whole social conditioning surrounding these two colours is so strong that while intelligent people logically know that pink and blue are not for girls/ boys respectively, given the choice of these two colours would dress 'gender appropriately' because of what people might think...

I too have friends who 'raved' about it and that is the point I suppose the marketeers will understand just how persuasive (lucrative) the 'empowerment' of women could be. But by making you buy into it, are they really empowering you? I'm going to keep questioning this and I hope some others do too...I honestly wanted to believe in it but as I say when I tried to discuss the need for women to feel empowered in their own skins without the need for someone else to tell them how to think/what to do, the post (and I have tried many means...twitter/facebook/their website) never appears.

Toward the Stars do good Facebook without pushing product.

I agree with Tethers that it's slightly irksome. I for me, it's because they adopt quite an individualist view of success and achievement. It's often about girls being 'leaders' but that's not the only way to contribute to society in a positive way!

The people behind it (claim to have) set it up to help people find girl-positive books, films etc (rather than promote mighty-girl-ness in general):

" The site was founded on the belief that all children should have the opportunity to read books, play with toys, listen to music, and watch movies that offer positive messages about girls and honor their diverse capabilities"

I agree it does this does make it rather focused on consumption, and I've noticed there's not much debate in the comments, I hadn't realised that's because they don't publish comments that challenge them.

They don't actually sell anything themselves. They give affiliate links to amazon etc, so they'll make a very small amount on each sale. I doubt they're in it for the megabucks.

quote from their about page

Thanks for the recommendation, Yonic, I'll have a look at Toward the stars...

I haven't seen them delete comments that don't agree. I think (as a mother of a daughter) that finding stuff I can buy for her is kind of a nightmare. I love that there is a place that gives me ideas. I assumed that they probably get a small kick back when people purchase based on their recommendation which I am happy about

I like Pigtail Pals and Let Toys Be Toys - they both seem a bit more 'rounded'.