Opinion

Should Girls Have “Girl Legos”?

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I am torn. I just purchased a “Lego Friends – Adventure Camper” which is basically the girl version of a camping Lego set. At the time I thought it was the perfect gift for a girl – that for once there was a Lego for a girl who did not always have to do with helicopters, action heroes, and cars. Softer colors, yet could also be used by a boy. It felt like something I would have wanted as a young girl.

Then I saw this petition on Change.org. It is a petition against Lego to “stop selling out girls.” The SPARK Movement and Powered By Girl are behind the petition that debunks the idea that: “girls want pink, already-assembled toys that don’t do anything.” I love this quote from the petition:

“I can speak from personal experience and assure you, LEGO, that girls do like minifigs. They also like Star Wars and Harry Potter, and they like being creative and making up stories that involve adventures and good and evil and things blowing up. But if you keep on excluding them from your marketing vision, soon they will start to believe that they would rather have hot tubs and little plastic boobs.”

So I am torn with my purchase. I think all kids like playing with Legos. Do girls notice the difference? Do they know that Legos have always been designed for boys? Do they care? Do they like having the people who go along with the Legos be girls rather than usually only boys?

I would love to hear what you think. I am trying to decide if I should unwrap and return my gift.

Girls Speaking Out = Change

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Speaking your mind and putting yourself out there can make a difference. It can make a change in the world. I am all for it. Change.org is a website that allows individuals to start petitions. Three sixteen year old girls learned in their civics class that it had been 20 years since the last female moderated the presidential debate. They proceeded to start a petition to push for a female to moderate the debate this election and received over 180,000 signatures. This article from New York Daily News shares more details and also states:

“The commission did not immediately respond to requests for further information. But an official downplayed the teens’ role in the selection of moderators, noting the process has been in the works for nearly two years.”

Regardless of whether that is true or not, I am in awe of the perseverance and passion of these three teenagers to speak their minds and put their beliefs into action. A woman will be moderating one of three of this year’s presidential debates. Candy Crowley will be moderating one presidential debate, and Martha Raddatz the Vice Presidential debate.

I love the quote from one of the teenagers in this Christian Science Monitor article:

“It’s really important for young women and boys to see women as role models, in position of power,” Tsemberis says. “It’s about getting women to be visible in society, and not being discouraged because they’re being judged by what they look like.”

I agree. 2012 continues to be the year of the woman!

You go girls!

A Message to Todd Akin

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I do not even know where to start on this debate. If I were in a cartoon I would have fire coming out my ears, and fireworks coming out of my mouth. I would be censored left and right. I just am flabbergasted by this politician’s comments. Seriously? There must not be a woman in his life that has ever been raped. Either that or he just has no respect for women. If he did he would eat his words.

What I am talking about pertains to Republican Senate Nominee, Todd Akin. Akin discussed his opposition to abortion rights “even in case of rape with a claim that victims of ‘legitimate rape’ have unnamed biological defenses that prevent pregnancy.” This quote was from this article about the TV interview with Akin on Sunday. In his interview, Akin said the following:

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

OMG. I am speechless. But only speechless because all of the words I want to say just are not nice. I am working on speaking up with clear, direct words, that are not @#$#%#$@$. The article states that rape is not “rare” and that “32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year.” Maybe Akin should go through a simulation of what it is like for a woman to be raped, and then tell him he has to carry the baby he is now pregnant with – oh yeah, and Akin, remember you never consented to the sex you have just been forced into.

Why do men and politicians feel that they have any say in what a woman does with her body? What woman should ever be forced to have a baby, after being raped? Then be reminded that they must have that man’s baby in their body for 9 months and then raise it? How is that bringing a child into this world with all the love, happiness, and consensual desire to raise a child? Maybe Akin would think differently if he had to grow a baby in his belly after nine months, and then raise it. BY. HIMSELF.

I would love for someone, anyone to tell me how to look at this from another view, because right now I am just livid. I cannot seem to find any silver lining in this debate at all. I really do not like to talk about politics at all, but this is more than politics. This a woman who has been forced to have sex against her will. Oh yeah, and in Akin’s words: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Seriously? Akin, what part of the female body has a way to shut the whole damn thing down?

Please tell me.

Honesty and Integrity = Respect and Credibility

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It’s Friday! It’s Friday!

Last summer I went to the IABC Conference that took place in San Diego, California. For those of you that might not know what the IABC Conference stands for – it is the International Association of Business Communicators. The keynote address was by Jonah Leher. I had recently read one of his books and enjoyed it, while also being very intrigued by his keynote address.

A few months Jonah released his next book: Imagine and I checked it out from the library. Once I received it and tried to start reading it, I was turned off. For the most part, the pages I read served to debunk the idea that brainstorming and creativity are effective ways to come up with new ideas. So I stopped reading and decided his new book was not one I was going to finish. Then tonight I came across this NPR article about the Bob Dylan quotes Jonah made up. What has come of our world? With all the information on the Internet, why would you ever even think about lying or fibbing about quotes, data, experience, etc? It does not make any sense to me!

It also opens up a lot of questions for me. What makes authors knowingly lie or make up content? Have folks not remembered the James Frey drama? Why is honesty and integrity such a hard thing to follow through on? How can we continue to trust authors and writers if we constantly have to wonder if they are telling the truth or not? It is interesting to me that the content of his book made me return it to the library and move on with my life. And…now they are pulling his book for inaccuracies.

Reminder to all writers: TELL THE TRUTH. Otherwise, you lose all respect and credibility.

My Thoughts Are In Aurora

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I have not been able to write about the shooting that happened in Aurora, Colorado last week. It has tormented me these past few days. How can such a thing happen? It makes me think of the Columbine shootings, the Virginia Tech shootings, and the Gabrielle Gifford shooting. Why oh why does this continue to happen? I know that in relation to what is happening in many other countries, what happens in America may seem tame. It still shocks me though. I was talking with someone that very day about going to a midnight showing of Batman that evening. We discussed how we did not want to sit for 3 hours to watch the movie.

Then I hear about what happened in Aurora. 12 people killed. It has been almost a week and I still cannot fathom what happened. What I fear is that people will stop feeling safe going to the grocery, to the post office, or the mall. We have to keep our head held high and keep going to our local establishments. We have to continue to trust that the world is good, that our neighbors are safe, and that people are sane. It is hard though. I struggle to make sense and understand what was going through the mind of the shooter. Why? Why? Why? I just am having a hard time understanding what possesses someone to do such things.

I read that the shooter was not cooperating with authorities, and that he booby-trapped his 800 square foot apartment with explosives. An apartment that was part of a building of other individuals homes. These individuals are still displaced from their homes. I also read that sales of guns have increased since the Aurora shootings. I wonder is that because more individuals want to protect themselves? Why more guns? I know that guns do not kill people, people kill people. It just concerns me that more individuals might be carrying guns in public places.

What are your thoughts? Do you feel safe these days in public places? If not, why?

My thoughts are with the family and friends of those that died in the Aurora shooting.