"Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us"

As a little girl, I never saw myself to be a Disney princess. I never thought I "fit the mold" so to say. Maybe Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us by Linda Christensen proves why I felt that way. This is a reflection post, and I feel like I have a lot of this relates to me. As Christensen stated "children's cartoons, movies, and literature are perhaps the most influential genre 'read'." That being said, wouldn't everyone want their child reading something that provides them with positive messages about the world? Not portraying the 'privileged' people as the only ones who will be successful. The first Disney movie to have a person of color play the lead role just recently came out for God's sake! Personally, I think that is absurd. I think that this relates to what we have learned about SCWAAMP in many ways. It makes me think about the things that I let my two year old nephew watch when I babysit. What types of ideas about the world are these movies and shows putting into his head? As a young child, I fell outside of the traditional gender roles for a little girl. I played sports and I liked to get dirty and muddy and I didn't care, and in every movie that was geared toward little girls my age, there was a princess. A princess who did her chores and wore dresses and played with dolls, and that was never me. As a young girl especially, thinking you are living in a wrong way can be detrimental to development. Luckily, I turned out okay. I just think that people turn their heads to a lot of the messages that are portrayed in children's stories and movies, thinking that these ideas will go over kids heads. Kids are getting smarter and smarter at a very young age, these things are not going unrecognized, and that is the exact reason a change needs to be made.

:)