Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 2, June 1993 | Page 28
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Popular Culture Review
drive the school bus and a man teach school. Moreover, cartoons such
as Scooby-Doo, Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, and the other
ghost-hunters and mystery-solvers of the period featured mostly
platonic groups of teenage boys and girls working together for a
common goal. True, in Scooby-Doo, Thelma, "the smart one," wore
glasses and sensible (read: unattractive) clothes; but at the same
time, neither she nor Daphne, the more traditionally attractive
member of the sleuthing party, ever displayed helplessness or
cowardice, unlike Shaggy, Scooby’s beatnik-like owner. The two girls
also had the respect of Alan, the traditional male in the party. The
cartoon had role models for male and female children, and
demonstrated interaction, not romantic rescue dynamics or catty
competition for Alan. Thus, although the seventies were far from a
golden age in children's culture, at least the issues of gender and
acceptable behavior entered our collective consciousness.
However, ever since the 1980s were under way and America
"rediscovered" its traditional, conservative roots (according to
Reagan-Bush Republicanism), we have seen a marked resurgence of
gender separation in toys, and a barrage of traditional sex roles and
stereotypical expectations accompanying them. Little girls are still
mothers to a variety of baby dolls. The only difference between baby
doll play in the '50s and the '90s resides in the dolls themselves.
Simple baby dolls such as Baby Soft Love still occupy toy shelves, but
they compete with dolls like Baby All Gone, who seems to eat the
provided food, and newborn baby dolls that "shiver" until their
"mothers" pick them up. Hence, the mother's role for little girls
becomes more demanding through realism.
Pregnancy as a "play" topic foisted onto small girls seems to be
the current rage. A very recent and bizarre twist to the baby doll is
the Mommy-To-Be doll, initially called Judy, and announced for
"ages 3 and over" by the Judith Corporation. The doll looks more or
less like Barbie but, according to advertisements, "comes complete
with pregnant tummy (removable); baby; flat tummy (when baby is
removed); baby carrier; maternity jump suit, blouse, shoes and hair
ribbon." (What is a maternity hair ribbon?) "Husband Charlie"
appears in a list of "accessories." The advertisements declare that
"Judy is more than a toy, she's a natural way for your child to learn
while playing." We must question, though, the "naturalness" of
caesarian section, which is in effect the only way Judy can have her