(You can see the picture at Feministing here)
In my opinion, this is a hideous product. Giving a child a mobile-phone is, in my view, rather sinister. Presumably, this phone is marketed at children of around five or six; if I was a mother, there is no way that I would be happy about letting my very young child use such a device. From a feminist perspective, the product is even more insidious. This little pink phone is inaccessible to children from single-parent families or children with same-sex parents. For children who are growing up in "normal" families, it simply encourages little girls to continue thinking that this is the norm for everybody. Not to mention its colour: it seems that every toy for girls has become a great big pink sexist stereotype.
The product also seems to market itself based upon the sad fact that parents are increasingly paranoid about their children's safety. This is, of course, a problem in our modern society. We all know about how parents "wrap their kids in cotton wool." Obviously the world has changed, and giving kids the freedom they had thirty years ago is not really possible, but this is just a step too far. I can see the following happening: Paranoid mother sees the product on the shelf, imagines her daughter lost in the supermarket or in the back of a paedophile's car, then buys the product because it would be irresponsible not to. Surely some of the paranoia will rub off on the child? It's a sad world we live in.
Fortunately, I have never seen a girl with such a phone, and hopefully won't start seeing them everywhere in the near future.
J xxx
The product concept of this particular phone is, entirely, hideous. The pinkness and the complete bias towards the nuclear family structure just promotes sexist and stereotypical attitudes to children at a very young age.
ReplyDeleteAnd I do agree about the paranoia perspective too. I think it's the implication - that not buying one for your child would make you an irresponsible parent - that's most dangerous.
People need to understand that the problems that need to be tackled are the aspects of our culture that originally spawn the paranoia: like the whole rape culture thing, or gang culture, or whatever. Childproofing your sheltered middle-class kid against them isn't going to make these problems go away.
xxx
I'm glad you agree about the disgusting creepiness of this product!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's the the implication of irresponsibility that frightens me. Society encourages young women to protect themselves from "dangerous men"... as if, the moment men see a mini-skirt, they won't be able to help themselves (which is sexist towards men and ridiculous in itself!). That this concept is being extended to very small children is quite disgusting. We need to be erasing these problems and addressing the root causes, not wrapping up our kids in bubble-wrap!!!
xxx
Yes: just as young women are supposedly responsible for detering rape by wearing 'unprovocative' clothing, parents are now being made responsible for the protection of their kids from all sorts of social issues.
ReplyDeleteI mean, obviously parents DO have a responsibility to look after their kids, but they can't just wrap them in bubblewrap their whole lives.
Society as a whole needs to start taking responsibility, rather than allowing some companies to profit from parents' paranoia.
Yes, of course, one of the key roles of a parent is to protect their child. But this is a new extreme.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that companies build upon parental paranoia in order to make money is downright selfish, and sickening. Companies are so cruel these days, in so many ways. It's such a shame we live in a neo-liberal conservative culture.
xxx
It's another 'guilt' product. The main marketing strategy is to make parents wonder 'what if' so that they waste their money and bring up children with no resistance to the rough and tumble of LIFE! The irony is that for health reasons, little kids who are still developing shouldn't be using mobile phones!!!! I mean, DURR!xxx
ReplyDeleteHaha, tis all true, tis all true... horrible stuff. xxx
ReplyDelete