Wed 17 Nov 2004
I’m only posting another stuffed animal picture because this one has a good story attached: Bettina has been a staple of the store since I joined its forces two and half years ago. There’s something about her froggy, long, legs combined with the ridiculous tutu action that enchants small boys….yes, I said boys. They LOVE “Bettina.” Usually when some poor little chap is dragged into the store with his Mom and sister I’ll hand him a frog. It really works…by distracting the young man, I’m preserving the sanity of the store. A bored little boy is hell in a handbasket.
The store eventually ordered pink Bettinas…but the reaction was mixed. Typically we see kids immediately identify the green and pink frogs as different genders. You guessed it: Green Bettina=Boy and Pink Bettina=Girl. So even though the green frog is wearing a tutu, he’s still the boy in the duo.
November 18th, 2004 at 1:17 am
The thing about being in school (particularly graduate school, I am learning) is that you have way too many conversations about issues (Justin and I still occasinally refer to them as “shoes” in honor of Sam). Cultural issues, gender issues, percieved notions, dominant culture…endless… But I still wonder–is it “bad” that as a society, we define girl frogs as pink? And if you didn’t have the pink version, would the green frog then be female because of the tutu? Should we be giving our children dancing frogs to play with, or does that encourage misconceptions about the abilities of a member of the animal kingdom? Or are we restricting frogs by not allowing them to dance? Is pink a realistic color for a frog to achieve? Is the frog available in blue, if we are going to be operating on percieved gender norms?
Seriously, I bet a gender studies class could discuss this for hours.
November 19th, 2004 at 12:22 am
Okay, so to update my ridiculous post, I was telling some of my graduate school friends about my (semi-serious) questions about it, and my friend Susan says “well, I think that’s relevant.”
which, by the way, was hilarious. I love her, it was great. And it made me feel a little less crazy.