Dr. Rebecca Hains
Author, professor and speaker | Children's media culture, media literacy, and media criticism
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Talking about toys: Taking child’s play seriously
On occasion, people ask me why I bother taking children’s toys so seriously. “They’re just toys, after all!” Yes, toys are just toys–but they’re so much more than that, too. Toys are a central part of children’s play, and to…
Read MorePonies, petitions, and girl power: This week’s roundup
Last week, I kept busy working on the My Little Pony petition, asking Hasbro to stop promoting superficial stereotypes of girls. Change.org invited me to contribute a guest post to their web site about the petition. It’s called “I Won’t…
Read More“Chess for Girls,” or how Saturday Night Live predicted the future.
Saturday Night Live’s fake commercial, “Chess for Girls” [transcript], was hilarious in 1997–but today, it strikes awfully close to home. An ultra-pink chess set that’s “not too hard, just pretty and fun”–with prancing ponies and a long-haired queen in a…
Read MorePretty Princess Problems: The Case of Princess Celestia
My family and I were shopping for a child’s birthday present this weekend when we came upon the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic section at a local Target store. As I’ve discussed previously, MLP:FIM is an unusually good children’s…
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Dr. Rebecca Hains 
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