it’s really uncomfortable to see a strong, child-like character get tarted up and flash bedroom eyes at you, but it’s equally sucky to rely on a giant corporation to teach your kids what strong women look like. Strong women look like Amelia Earhart, Rosie the Riveter, Asmaa Mahfouz, or Elizabeth Smart. Or Wonder Woman, or Sally Ride or Sojourner Truth, or Amy Poehler, or Ada Lovelace, or Anne Frank. Or your grandmother.
Two uncomfortable truths: New Merida looks a little whorey. Fewer people care about this than you would think. is worth a quick read and provides some great perspective on the redesign of Merida from Disney’s film Brave. This is spot on. Parents need to teach their kids about strong women and role models of both genders. Relying on hollywood, or any company to do so, diminishes our roles as parents and skews our kids.
It is a failure.
I do not want my son to grow up thinking that a strong female role model was “improved” by making her a bit sexier. I don’t want to see his respect for his fellow humans casually eroded, before he’s even had a chance to learn how amazing each of us are.
