i have changed the world!

check this out (click here)

if you don't feel like clicking, i'll tell you what it shows. it's Earth Girl!

remember when i wrote to pbskids.org telling them that the create your own super hero game on super why was stereotypically (in a negative way) gender-specific because boy super heros could choose between the bohr model, earth, dinosaur, rocket ship or airplane options and girls could only choose between hearts and flowers, shooting star, bunny and rainbow? well, they changed it! boys and girls can now choose between all 10 options. i think i'll send a congratulatory email to pbskids tonight.

i am so proud of myself. vanessa, your little babe of unknown gender has one less silly stereotype foisted on him/her already. woo hoo!

we all knew i'd be "that" kind of mom, didn't we?

here's a copy of the email i sent to pbskids. org. vanessa, you will be proud of me i think.

Hello-

My daughter loves the "build your own superhero" game on pbskids.org, found under the Superwhy "games" tab. The game involves getting to choose a superhero feature each time a word is correctly spelled; first an outfit, then a cape, then a mask, and finally, a chest decoration.

I'd like to suggest, though, that the options not be so stereo-typically gender-specific. Four of the six girl superhero outfit, cape, and mask options are a minor variation on pink and purple (which in and of itself wouldn't prompt me to write). What I really don't like are the gender options for the chest decoration.

If a child chooses to build a boy superhero, he can choose between an airplane, the planet Earth with some kind of spaceship-like ring around it, a rocketship, a Bohr model of the atom, and a dinosaur. Build a girl and you can choose between a butterfly, a shooting star, hearts, a flower, and a bunny.

I think it this subtly reinforces what children of each gender "should" be interested in. I believe that we need to let our girls know that rocketships and atoms are OK topics for girls, and let our boys know that they can pick a bunny or heart if that's what they want.

Please give all of the kids all of the options! I want my daughter to be as free to choose atomic girl as she is to choose flower girl.

Thanks for your time and attention,
Desiree Halter


it was the bohr model that pushed me over the edge. because you know, physics is for boys.

i'll keep you all posted on any response or action.