People who think a movie about plastic dolls.

[meadowlander]

52. I'm not asking you to see the movie.

I'm asking you to have a greater awareness of the cultural context your comments are falling into. I'm asking you to think about the women and girls in your life and the ones reading this board and the cultural messages that your comments reinforce.

Like the ten million messages a day sent to little girls that the things they like are stupid and less than the things little boys like.

Like the hundred million messages a day that tell them their worth comes from their youth and beauty not their skills or personality.

You didn't have to stop by and spend part of your day commenting on why you don't want to see this movie and to let everyone know "I have no interest in a film about dolls!" "And I'm certainly not going to see a movie with a 33 year old actress cast as a 19 year old in it!" You don't see me wasting my time in the baseball forum complaining about how tedious baseball is and then insisting "you can't make me watch it" and "it's just not for me!"

I'm just asking you to reflect honestly about why you felt the need to do that. You absolutely can make your own choices. I'm just asking you (and anyone with a habit of casually trashing "girly" things) to consider making better and more thoughtful ones. Nobody here cares if you see the movie or not except to the extent that your public insistence that you won't see it because "it's a film about dolls" reinforces negative misogynistic cultural messages for women and girls that their interests are trivial and bad.

Why not be a bit more open minded? Why not try to see things from the perspective of someone different from you? Or at a minimum why not hold back from trashing something just because you don't know that much about it and it isn't to your taste? Save your $12 if you want and watch something else. But think about the things that you say and write and how they impact others.

It's totally up to you.