Last week I was standing dumbfounded at the CVS' greeting card isle trying to look for a Father's Day card for my husband. None of us are very conventional, and the typical pre-authored Hallmark card has rarely satisfied my somewhat snooty European taste. Somehow Hallmark seems to be in competition...
Social media has been in flames the last few days over a (now withdrawn) Barbie-book Mattel published in 2010. It started with a blog post on Pamiedotcom's Tumblr site. Barbie: I Can Be A Computer Engineer is the gift that keeps on giving to blogs and click bait...
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="499"] Source: DoctorDisney[/caption] Spoiler alert ahead! It's obvious, Disney has fallen in love with a new meta-theme: Wronged, cold-hearted, lonely woman unearths apocalyptic forces that overtake her kingdom, but is also the only one who can break the spell. But only after she rediscovers...
It's been a while since I wrote about gender issues so today I'll harness International Women's Day to give a few forecasts that will affect women of the Homeland generation, or Generation Z, which is a more widely used name. I chose to describe the...
If you read parenting blogs (and maybe even if you don't) you might have read the now famous Texas mother Kim Hall's letter to teenage girls. The post went viral last week and stirred controversy in as crowded parts of the blogosphere as Huffington Post and BlogHer. Apparently she lives right here in Austin, but I don't know her. Mrs. Hall reacts publicly to her sons' female friends who pose in less than demure ways on their social media. In an open letter, with a tone that alternates between what seems to be genuine matronly concern and sanctimonious passive aggression (always with the smile!), she explains to them that they will be banished from the Hall family's social media circles if they let their digital girdles fall.
So now after the dust is settled and what is said has been said, I'm offering my thoughts on why this particular post went viral. And what it says about parenting trends and social changes in the horizon.
Here are a few keywords:
Historical/ chronological myopia
Slutshaming dressed as feminism
The double standard of digital sharing
The parental panopticon
It is widely believed that the solution to many of the world's ills goes through the empowerment of women and especially female children. By allowing girls the resources and freedom to grow up healthy and educated we can reduce the world population, increase entrepreneurialism and...
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a speech by legendary, mother-of-all feminists Gloria Steinem at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center here in Austin. As a mother of three daughters I am anxious to learn if feminism is an ongoing movement that will continue to grow roots into the younger generations or if it is subjected to cyclical patterns where in which the expected roles of women ebb and flow with cultural and political currents. Strauss and Howe's in The Fourth Turning suggest that some cyclicality is at work and note fluctuations between eras dominated by traditional gender roles and other eras when women take on more androgynous fashions and social roles. Cyclical theories will typically emphasize these undulations in social trends, but there is clearly a progressive "upward" movement at least in modern age. During her speech Steinem counteracted the myth of declining feminism, but she also touched on the backlash and the "feminazi"-accusations from extreme anti-feminists like Rush Limbaugh.
I enjoyed the speech, but I must say I was hoping to hear more about her thoughts about the future.
Children who grow up in the typical fourth turning crisis era are extremely over-parented. The New Silent/ Homeland generation is no exception. I think there are various reasons for this trend and they are often driven by fear of the future. Parenting has become a market place for many conflicting theories and they all thrive on fear and insecurity. If parenting philosophies are our currencies, our children are the investment objects. And when it comes to our own flesh and blood, there is no such thing as second best.
In the early 2000s the attachment-parenting trend accompanied by the theories of Dr. Sears started to make encroachment into the American middle class. The philosophy of attachment parenting is based on attachment theory in psychology. Since infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and responsive in social interactions with them, a close relationship with parents, mostly the mother, has to be fostered to optimize the child’s socio-emotional development. This includes extended breastfeeding, co-sleeping and positive, non-confrontational forms
In Growing up with Princess Inc earlier this year I wrote about growing gender polarization. In the post I discussed the idea that shifts between androgynous and more overtly gendered fashion trends and body ideals are linked to social and economic fluctuations. Generational experts Strauss and Howe explained in The Fourth Turning that in eras when society struggles to recover from crisis, order, stability and traditional values gain momentum. From social science research we know socioeconomic lower classes tend to embrace traditional gender ideals to a greater degree than does the middle class. The middle class on the other hand, possesses economic and educational resources that allow them to push social boundaries without serious negative
Social change is often extremely slow, especially when deep seated norms are involved. Gender roles have demonstrated their staying power even in sociospheres where gender equality has long been the official mantra. Haven’t we all met the guy who speaks passionately about women’s rights all while parking the kids in front of the TV and leaving the dirty dishes in the sink? Or the “career mom” who laments (or brags) about her overwhelming domestic chores and how she does it all? It may not be so surprising after all that women, according to a recent study, probably will have to wait until 2050 before men are doing an equal share of the household chores and childcare. In other words, it will take our youngest generation and two generations more before equality between the sexes has been fully achieved. But where? The study seems to focus primarily on the US and UK and claims the upward trend in male domestic participation has leveled off in some (which?) countries.
