#HONEYCOMB CEREAL MASCOT FULL#

The female characters, except for the pink ghetto, are stereotyped, sidelined, or not there at all. The male characters are the stars, they act heroically, the movies follow their quests. The problem is that all of the imaginary characters in childrenвЂ™s mediaвЂ“ monsters on Sesame Street, robots in вЂњWall-E,вЂќ cars, rats, talking toysвЂ“ are gendered. Obviously, no one aspires to grow up to be a mascot. I still donвЂ™t have a good answer for that. It reminds me of something I read in a book on the evolution of fashion or beauty for women (I was writing a paper) that questioned why women are tasked with so much of the burden of aesthetic appeal and attracting a mate when itвЂ™s the opposite in much of the animal kingdom. And many females of different species are actually the larger and stronger creatures. For instance, many male animals are actually responsible for attracting their mates so they are the ones with the bright plumage.

I think part of the problem is our gender assumptions contradict the realities of the world. And some of these characteristics are used, notably on things like superhero cartoons where the men have very angular jaws and the women have softer, heart-shaped faces. These donвЂ™t always work, but if you study drawing or anatomy you learn about brow shape, jaw shape, body proportions, etc. In human characters or characters that are meant to look somewhat like humans you could just replicate the characters that help us generally differentiate between male and female. Why is it so normal for parents and children to see an imaginary world where girls go missing? So why are female characters completely missing from this line up?Д¬an you imagine shopping at Safeway with your kids and seeing shelves lined with cereal box after cereal box, all featuring images of an all female a cast of heroes and villains? Do you think youвЂ™d notice? Do you think your kids would? Huge companies poured millions of dollars into creating these guys, to make them into household names. In total, Raj listed 14 characters from kidsвЂ™ cereal boxes, every one a male.Д«efore you scoff at this blatant sexism as RajвЂ™s friends did, remember: these characters are designed to appeal to your kids. IsnвЂ™t that shocking? And shocking that itвЂ™s not shocking, if you know what I mean.

#HONEYCOMB CEREAL MASCOT FULL#

On Reel GirlвЂ™s Facebook page, Danielle Cole reports the full list of all male cereal box characters that Raj listed last night on вЂњBig Bang Theory.вЂќ Raj said heвЂ™d done the research and there are no female cereal box characters at all.

Honeycomb cereal mascot