Dr. Rebecca Hains
Author, professor and speaker | Children's media culture, media literacy, and media criticism
Archives
Disney-Pixar’s Brave: Critiquing the criticisms
I saw Brave the day it debuted in theaters, and I’m glad that Merida is a different kind of princess–one who can be read as a critique of both the trope that princesses are passive and the trend to tell…
Read MoreAt Stride Rite, girls are pretty and boys are active.
A few days ago, one mom wrote about a conversation she overheard, in which her 6-year-old daughter’s classmate insisted that sparkly shoes are not for playing–they’re for looking pretty: “Your shoes are ugly,” said the kindergarten classmate. “No they are not,”…
Read MorePracticing slightly subversive parenting: Toddlers and gender
Gender representations in popular kids’ storybooks make me sigh. Books based on TV programs and movies seem among the worst offenders; yet they’re inescapably popular. To manage them, I do two things: First, I keep movie- and tv-based books to…
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