Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Boy Issues




Having boys has been an eye-opening experience, in more ways than one (and no, I'm not talking about how a boy can pitch a perfect strike from 70 feet, but can't manage to get all of the pee in the toilet bowl not 6 inches away).

The other day, T asked me why on TV, movies and cartoons it was always the boys who were the stupid ones and the girls who were smart. He said this as we watched the movie Get Smart and it made me look at the whole movie in a different way. I started noticing in so many books and shows that it is the boys who are goofy or stupid and the girl comes in to save the day. I know that this is an outgrowth of girl power that took hold when I was young, but I'm starting to think we've gone overboard.

We passed the after school club Girls Inc. and he wondered where the Boys Inc. was. So much of the time, we take the girls-are-better-and-smarter-than-boys rule in the media for granted, but I don't think we realize what it is doing to our boys. Almost always, if it were reversed it would be seen as sexist and unfair. Try explaining that to a nine-year-old.

On this date: In 1935, Babe Ruth retired.

4 comments:

Julie_c said...

That's interesting. I'm going to be thinking on that one for a while.

Anna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anna said...

I think that Dirty Little Secrets sounds like a good book Cynthia. I'll buy it when it comes out.

CJ Omololu said...

Thanks!