Blogocentric Formulations

Positive Thing #4

POSITIVE THING #4

The most popular Halloween costumes this year are not princesses! *fistpump*

For the past eleven years, princess costumes have been the number-one-selling Halloween costume category in the United States. And while the princess phenomena has been amazingly popular and profitable for a lot of companies, it hasn't been without its faults. Some believe that encouraging girls to pretend to be princesses encourages them to be vulnerable and expect to be taken care of, rather than being independent, capable, and tough.

I'm not sure I 100% buy that (some girls legitimately dream of or want to pretend to be princesses), I think there are absolutely issues surrounding the availability of good alternatives for the girls that don't. Rey was reportedly left out of many early Star Wars: The Force Awakens play sets, and the Avengers: Age of Ultron motorcycle toys replaced Black Widow's character - who rides the bike in the movie - with Captain America are concerning, especially since these changes were allegedly made on purpose by someone involved in the marketing campaigns because they decided that boys wouldn't be interested in toys that featured girls.

But what about the girls who would otherwise want to play with those toys?

There was another reported issue where girls where looking for girl character toys and merchandise in traditionally boy-dominated categories (Black Widow and Gamora for Marvel, Rey for Star Wars, Harley Quinn and Batgirl and Wonder Woman for DC, etc.) and simply not being able to find anything in those categories because the companies decided that girls wouldn't be interested in those products so they were just never manufactured.

It's nice to see the princess category get knocked down a peg by the superhero genre; I think it makes a pretty strong statement that there is a market for girl-oriented costumes and toys and merchandise that aren't simply princess-themed, and hopefully it will encourage companies to start manufacturing more for the next generation. I understand that a company has to make the products they think they can sell, but I'm now optimistic that it's becoming clear that there's a demand for strong female role of different types.

Further reading:
         Halloween Costume Showdown  
         Excluding Female Characters from Merchandise Doesn't Just Impact Girls