Do Brave Girls Really Want Science Lego?

The hubs and I were lucky enough to both have media plus one’s for the screening of the Guardians of the Galaxy last Wednesday.  I have to admit that of all the recent Marvel Universe flicks, this is now my favorite with Avengers following in 2nd place.   I think the kids agree with me on this. They were excited to see it and were not  disappointed.

Superhero movies are huge right now.  They make the studios bajillions of dollars and non geeks enjoy them.  The popularity also makes people ask what other heroes will show up from the pages of comic books.  We are going to be seeing Antman and a new take on Wonder Woman.  The new Wonder Woman has created much talk about what makes a good female superhero and that when it comes to stereotypical images….the fairer sex in a cape has not changed much since the golden age of comic books.

Guardians is a fun movie, but again did not advance the role of women in the genre.  However, my inner feminist was not offended by this apart from finding Gamora to be a bit too wimpy for who was supposed to be a deadly assassin.

Not to say I don’t get tired of the same old same old when it comes to ‘types’ of women being portrayed in movies and comics.  We have always had tough women in film, that is not new….but STILL they need to be rescued or softened by the male protagonist. Princess Leia and Marion Ravenwood are two examples.   The Avengers Black Widow has yet to be ‘rescued’ by a male team member but she still hasn’t gone much above and beyond the ‘badass’ woman role.

Both the husband and I have substantial collections of comics and despite that, we haven’t been “blessed” with kids who are as excited by the books as we ever were.   We are okay with this.  This saves us all a lot of money and also in our opinion, comics today are just meh and we rarely pick up a book.

This hasn’t stopped our kids being into superheroes.  Our daughter Caity more so than her brother, interestingly enough.   I find this sort of ironic when the interwebs are filled with sites like ‘Brave Girls Want‘ and campaigns for ‘Like a Girl’ and now Lottie having a competition for a superhero doll and now Lego GIRL scientists because apparently there are not enough role models for girls.

Funnily enough I never looked at comics for role models.    Caity’s faves right now are Cat Woman and Harley Quinn.  Neither characters that I would want my daughter to consider a role model apart from being tough take no prisoners sort of women.

I honestly cannot recall a single role model from my childhood from pop culture.  There were characters I liked, but did was I wanting to be like them?  No. Has this made me less of a feminist than my peers or predecessors?  I don’t think so.  Should not role models or ‘inspiration’ come from real life?   My mom was and is a role model.   George Sand and Virginia Wolfe are role models for me.  Not lego figures. Nor were my Sindy’s (British Barbies).

While I am somewhat disappointed that females in mainstream comics have not come very far over the last 50 years, I have not expected much else.  Hollywood hasn’t faired much better.  Entertainment doesn’t bother thinking too deeply about character development to feed the masses.   They don’t need to and true they surely won’t bother until they start losing money and their cushey jobs are on the line.

Now perhaps we do need better female role models in pop culture nowadays.    But I don’t even think we have reached a consensus on what that should look like…..and until then…..well.  The ladies of Digitally Yours were chatting today online about the anti-feminist movement.  Is this movement due the lack of pop culture cartoon role models or the lack of real life examples of modern day feminism that they can relate to?

Will a more kick ass Wonder Woman or brainy girl Lego characters make this newest generation understand that the reason that they remotely have the avenue to HAVE an opinion about feminism is due to the history of the movement itself?  That their access to employment, healthcare, education and to being heard at all stems from the movement they claim to hate?

I don’t think so.   There is something else missing from our society today that our children have such a disconnect to the women of the past who helped shaped the world we live in today.   How in a world where vast amounts of information lays at our finger prints has the true meaning of feminism been so lost?

Perhaps more nuanced female role models will help reforge that connection..but please …we cannot rely on dolls and comic books to shape our culture.  Those are just byproducts of those creators influences…..we ( the older generations) need to find a way to connect again and share our stories and the stories of the past in a way that resonate with the young women of today.

Reinventing Wonder Woman probably won’t solve this issue, but perhaps it will help if we can make her more relevant to today’s culture of short attention spans and instant gratification.

In the meantime I will do my part and try to raise feminist children and my brave girl can rock her My Little Pony shirt accompanied by her Batman pants as she plays with her PINK Lego.