Dr. Rebecca Hains
Author, professor and speaker | Children's media culture, media literacy, and media criticism
Category: Uncategorized
Why Representations of Women and Girls Can’t Be Slut-Shamed
Is it slut-shaming to dub Polly Pocket “Polly Prostitute“? No, it isn’t. But many commenters on the internet think otherwise. I’m here to tell you why they’re wrong. About Slut-Shaming In recent months, the term “slut-shaming” has gone mainstream. In…
Read MoreAn Open Letter to Justin Lookadoo
By Jennifer Shewmaker and Dae Sheridan Dear Mr. Lookadoo, We (along with most of the internet) recently heard about your presentation at Richardson High School. The students’ outrage shed light on your views of the “dateability” of children and how…
Read MoreDisney’s Obamacare “inspiration” not as great as it sounds.
An article praising Disney World went viral on Facebook on Thursday. Brimming with excitement, the article reported that unlike companies that have cut part-time employees’ hours to avoid providing them with health insurance, Disney was “inspired”: Taking a “different approach,”…
Read MoreLISTEN: Rebecca Hains discusses “FYI (If you’re a teenage girl)” on The Shift with Mike Eckford
UPDATED Sept. 6, 2013 at 9:40 a.m.: Last night, I was a guest on CKNW AM Vancouver’s The Shift with Mike Eckford, chatting about my response to Mrs. Hall, raising compassionate sons, and the sexualization of teenage girls. My segment is…
Read MoreStride Rite’s gendered marketing persists. But why, and what can we do about it?
Last April, I posted about how Stride Rite positions girls as pretty and boys as active. After seeing their in-store advertisements and reviewing their product descriptions online, I concluded that according to Stride Rite, girls are meant to be looked…
Read MoreDisney responds to Merida petition, missing the point
Recently, Disney released a new, 2D image of Merida. This prompted outrage because the character’s design was altered, for no good reason. The new Merida has been “prettified”–made more conventionally attractive in a way that undercuts the character’s strengths, to the detriment of the children…
Read MoreBut… the Little Mermaid gave up her voice!
Ah, Ariel. I love many things about your movie, particularly the music. But as a character, you made such poor choices. Giving up your voice to get a man? That set a really poor example for girls. In a society…
Read MoreI haven’t been blogging much lately. My reason?Introducing
I haven’t been blogging much lately. My reason?Introducing our new baby! He was born on Halloween, which means there should be some fun costume-themed birthday parties in our future. 🙂 T. is a doting big brother; he thinks our baby…
Read MoreAre the “Princess Wars” the new “Mommy Wars”?
A couple of weeks ago, Stephanie Hanes of the Christian Science Monitor called me. She had seen my post asking studios like Disney and Dreamworks to let princesses dare to dream of more, and she wanted to hear more of…
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Dr. Rebecca Hains 
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