Please don’t send me any store-bought greeting cards!

I know that pre-written store-bought greeting cards are not the cause of America’s current downfall, but they are a symptom of America’s cultural, moral and educational decline. Really. I know that many of you are thinking that I’m way off base here, but let me give you a few examples based on today’s trip to my local grocery store (the name of the St. Louis grocery chain is “Schnucks”).

First of all, I just don’t get why we need to segregate “boy” cards from “girl” cards. Take a look at these cards for boys and you won’t be surprised at the themes. There are lots of superhero cards and other action/adventure characters and themes.

boys greeting cards

Now compare the “boys” cards to the “girls” cards, where you’ll find princesses and other characters much more concerned about their looks than with their accomplishments.

girls greeting cards

As if girls don’t enjoy superhero stories (my daughters certainly do) or anything other than trying to look pretty. This greeting card sexual segregation reminds me of this recent post on America’s rampant sexualization of young girls.

There are also cards for men and cards for women, of course, and they too are segregated. Why do we use greeting cards to instill a message into our girls and women that they should be interested in their own looks and body image to the exclusion of their accomplishments? This destructive message should be stopped immediately, especially when so many girls are getting messed up by this message, which causes them to

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More Cartoons . . .

Hero of the Beach RJ Matson, The New York Observer Classical Gas John Darkow, Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri Press and Money Ares, Caglecartoons.com Energy Domino Effect Petar Pismestrovic, Kleine Zeitung, Austria The Boss Angel Boligan, Cagle Cartoons, El Universal, Mexico City [All cartoons published with the permission of Cagle Cartoons]

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What we can do about the media’s sexualization of young girls

At Alternet, Tana Ganeva reports on Gigi Durham's new book, concerning the corporate media's sexual objectification of girls. Durham characterizes the overall problem as the "The Lolita Effect," which is the media's sexual objectification of young girls. Here's an excerpt: In 2006, the retail chain Tesco launched the Peekaboo Pole…

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Underground dancer audition – Robert Muraine

I'm not qualified to comment on the technical skills or artistry, but this "popper" performance was fun/bizarre/engaging/memorable.  Quite an unusual dance, to say the least. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VNO4m7qip0&feature=related[/youtube] If you want to know more about the performer, Robert Muraine, you can visit his Myspace page.

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