Where do we start with this one? Well, let's just say that this one brought us out of hiding. We haven't posted since March. What a stunningly bad idea! The GYMANIMALS web site starts with an annoying song and goes on to create cartoon characters/animals to teach kids about health and fitness. Yes, children need to eat more nutritious meals and exercise more, but there are so many misguided and ignorant messages here we don't know where to start. First, it’s not exactly their (kids') responsibility. It’s OUR responsibility to create schools that offer healthy meals and don’t take bribes from soda companies to place machines in the lunchrooms. It’s OUR responsibility to teach healthy eating at home. So, what does this have to do with gender and packaging girlhood and boyhood? Well, take a look at the animals. Of course, the doctor, Dr. Smart, is male. Then we meet Leon the Lion who is the “fearless leader” and whose favorite exercise is bicep curls. His weapon of choice is dumbbells. This is wrong on so many levels. First, why do young boys need to “fight” obesity with “weapons” or with free weights, for that matter? Why is the leader a guy always? And why do these people think that doing bicep curls will combat childhood obesity? Let’s get kids into gyms lifting weights? What fun! A whole lot of calories burned there! And think of all the team work they're learning about! Instead, why don't they promote safe playgrounds and outdoor sports? Then comes Gina the Giraffe who is a gymnast. A gymnast? Didn’t these folks read any of the literature on how gymnastics puts pretty little girls in tiny little boxes of bodies to fit into their specializations? And Gina's weapon? A heavy ball? What does that have to do with gymnastics? And why is she wearing pink? Petey the Prizefighting Primate? His sport is boxing and his weapon is gloves? He’s the “toughest”? Of course, because he’s a boy he has to be tough, but is boxing a great sport to teach kids in order to keep fit? And Rip the Rockin Rhino is yet another person who keeps fit by going to the gym. He’s the strongest member (because he’s a boy of course) and his favorite exercise is dead lifting. Who in the world recommends dead lifting to kids in order to keep them fit? THEN we get the baddies – there’s a green blob called O-Bee-Sity that the good guys and one pink gymnast are going to fight so that he doesn’t turn children into big fatty blobs. Yes, they use language like that! The other bad guys are Phat Cells, Germ the Worm, Couch Potato and....wait for it. Following stereotypical practice, they need to have one female character among the baddies and who can this be? Anna-Rexia who “infects little girls with eating disorders.” And she “despises the Gymanimals”. Now that’s strange… many girls with anorexia LOVE the gym, lifting weights, obsessing about muscle vs. fat. I would think they’d all get along as girls who are counting calories work themselves to death at lonely gyms. But seriously, who are the creators of this madness and what were they thinking???? "The Gymanimals will forever be how our children identify the topic of good physical health and nutrition…" so they write. OH GOD NO!
Great Resources for Parents and Girls
Books we recommend to parents
- Susan Linn: Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood
- Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne: So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids
- Janie Victoria Ward: The Skin We're In: Teaching Our Teens To Be Emotionally Strong, Socially Smart, and Spiritually Connected
- Peggy Orenstein: Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self Esteem, and the Confidence Gap
- Susan Linn: The Case For Make-Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World
- Sharon Lamb: Sex, Therapy, and Kids: Addressing Their Concerns Through Talk and Play
- Lyn Mikel Brown: Girlfighting
- Alissa Quart: Branded
- Juliet Schor: Born to Buy
- Ariel Levy: Female Chauvinist Pigs
- Audrey Brashich: All Made Up
Books for Girls
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« Stupid Is As Stupid Does | Main
January 06, 2011
GRRRR!animals Fighting obesity with stereotypes and violence!
Where do we start with this one? Well, let's just say that this one brought us out of hiding. We haven't posted since March. What a stunningly bad idea! The GYMANIMALS web site starts with an annoying song and goes on to create cartoon characters/animals to teach kids about health and fitness. Yes, children need to eat more nutritious meals and exercise more, but there are so many misguided and ignorant messages here we don't know where to start. First, it’s not exactly their (kids') responsibility. It’s OUR responsibility to create schools that offer healthy meals and don’t take bribes from soda companies to place machines in the lunchrooms. It’s OUR responsibility to teach healthy eating at home. So, what does this have to do with gender and packaging girlhood and boyhood? Well, take a look at the animals. Of course, the doctor, Dr. Smart, is male. Then we meet Leon the Lion who is the “fearless leader” and whose favorite exercise is bicep curls. His weapon of choice is dumbbells. This is wrong on so many levels. First, why do young boys need to “fight” obesity with “weapons” or with free weights, for that matter? Why is the leader a guy always? And why do these people think that doing bicep curls will combat childhood obesity? Let’s get kids into gyms lifting weights? What fun! A whole lot of calories burned there! And think of all the team work they're learning about! Instead, why don't they promote safe playgrounds and outdoor sports? Then comes Gina the Giraffe who is a gymnast. A gymnast? Didn’t these folks read any of the literature on how gymnastics puts pretty little girls in tiny little boxes of bodies to fit into their specializations? And Gina's weapon? A heavy ball? What does that have to do with gymnastics? And why is she wearing pink? Petey the Prizefighting Primate? His sport is boxing and his weapon is gloves? He’s the “toughest”? Of course, because he’s a boy he has to be tough, but is boxing a great sport to teach kids in order to keep fit? And Rip the Rockin Rhino is yet another person who keeps fit by going to the gym. He’s the strongest member (because he’s a boy of course) and his favorite exercise is dead lifting. Who in the world recommends dead lifting to kids in order to keep them fit? THEN we get the baddies – there’s a green blob called O-Bee-Sity that the good guys and one pink gymnast are going to fight so that he doesn’t turn children into big fatty blobs. Yes, they use language like that! The other bad guys are Phat Cells, Germ the Worm, Couch Potato and....wait for it. Following stereotypical practice, they need to have one female character among the baddies and who can this be? Anna-Rexia who “infects little girls with eating disorders.” And she “despises the Gymanimals”. Now that’s strange… many girls with anorexia LOVE the gym, lifting weights, obsessing about muscle vs. fat. I would think they’d all get along as girls who are counting calories work themselves to death at lonely gyms. But seriously, who are the creators of this madness and what were they thinking???? "The Gymanimals will forever be how our children identify the topic of good physical health and nutrition…" so they write. OH GOD NO!
Comments
The comments to this entry are closed.
Great post as always. Thank for creating time to write...Will continue to follow you.
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Posted by: Generic Viagra | January 14, 2011 at 10:34 PM
Glad to see you back in action- but appalled to see this sort of rubbish aimed at kids. Thanks for taking it to task and letting people know that this is not how we teach kids about being healthy!
Posted by: Erin | January 25, 2011 at 02:37 AM
I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it'll be much harder to detect.
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Who is the author of the articles? I have a lot of questions. The articles consider very serious questions and I see that I have some problems...
Posted by: college essay | April 26, 2011 at 11:46 AM
This reminds me of a "Five Man Band" dynamic:
The Hero: The main character.
The Lancer: The hero's sidekick.
The Smart Guy: The "brains" of the group.
The Big Guy: The "brawn" to the Smart Guy's "brains."
The Chick: The most feminine member, often a girl.
Anyways, here's a good example: When I was a little girl I would always have fantasies of going on adventures with characters from the video game series Backyard Sports. We even called ourselves the Five Muskeeters. Heh.
The Hero: I was the tomboy girl who wanted adventure.
The Lancer/The Smart Guy: Angela Delvecchio was the energetic tomboy. But she was also knew alot and switched roles with Jorge sometimes.
The Smart Guy/The Lancer: Jorge Garcia already knew the computer and internet better than any of us (and I LOVED the computer and internet), but I thought he was cute and sometimes he and Angela switched roles.
The Big Guy: Achmed Khan LOVED rock and roll-Elvis, Chuck Berry, Beatles. He also played guitar.
The Chick: Maria Luna loved pink and girly things and everything pretty and stuff like that.
So yeah.
PS I learned it from this site. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage.) Feel free to click on the link, but beware, the site is VERY addictive. Unless you have already seen the site, which explains why you haven't posted in so long. Anyways, it's a very interesting site and has a whole section on "Double Standards," including one about how feminine women are "bad" and how being male means you need to take care of yourself and stuff like that.
Posted by: Jennifer | April 27, 2011 at 01:43 PM
beware, the site is VERY addictive. Unless you have already seen the site, which explains why you haven't
Posted by: office147 | May 05, 2011 at 12:35 AM
Please don't repeat what I say.
Posted by: Jennifer | May 09, 2011 at 04:08 PM
I consider obesity as a very serious problem. I think it's worth our attention to stop it.
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Posted by: cialis to buy | July 02, 2011 at 02:53 PM
There's also this thing called a "Five-Bad Band" which is like the "Five Man Band" only evil. So yeah.
Posted by: Jennifer Rose | July 09, 2011 at 10:18 AM
I think that our life is full of problems made by stereotypes. We should be more original and tolerant to make our lives easier.
Posted by: essay writers | July 14, 2011 at 04:54 PM
As for the Give-Bad Band, I would also pick out five characters to be chosen as villians, probably because in about 90% of children's cartoons, kids beat bad guys. Let's see...
Big Bad: Stephanie Morgan (She were always try to put everyone down.)
The Dragon: Jocinda Smith (They looked like each other, so she would go along with her.)
The Evil Genuis/The Brute: Keisha Phillips. (She used to be friends with them but turned to the good side. Very much an Anti-Villian.)
Don't worry, I've sorted out these characters and they're all cool now.
Dark Chick: Kimmy Eckman (she did hate Maria, plus she was also a wannabe evil princess.)
Posted by: Jennifer Rose | July 28, 2011 at 03:09 PM
I like you on facebook and follow through google reader!
Posted by: bieber supra shoes | November 02, 2011 at 12:00 AM
Isn't the blog topic related to packaging? Sounds it's more girlhood staff.
Posted by: Alex | November 09, 2011 at 06:56 PM
Yes that' s true. Obesity is a very serious problem. We must think over it. I guess it's worth our attention to stop it.
Posted by: Emily | November 17, 2011 at 01:11 AM
BTW I have this awesome fanfiction of Backyard Sports called "The Secret Life of the Backyard Kids." It's on Deviantart, here: http://rose64bud.deviantart.com. BTW, while the story doesn't really have strong female characters per se, (with the exception for Sam, the energetic surfer tomboy who puts her mind to everything she does and has hunky Achmed wrapped around her finger), I think I can be a good role model for aspiring female writers.
Posted by: Jennifer | December 05, 2011 at 03:17 PM
Like the saying goes, there is no such thing as bad children, just bad parents. If a kid is not getting enough nutrition, exercise or attention then it IS the parents fault. It should all be started from home. Kids have it hard enough as they get older having to compare themselves with supermodels then to have that started earlier. Good point!
Posted by: Kitty Vance | January 22, 2012 at 03:27 PM
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Posted by: Essay Writing Services | January 23, 2012 at 04:38 AM
I have gotten better at bridging the gender gap in my story however. Later in the story I'm introducing a young lady named Anavi Ali, who looks like a queenly young lady but is quite the action girl.
Posted by: Jennifer | January 25, 2012 at 12:54 PM