Lei's Soup

I wrote the following letter to Hasbro after looking for My Little Pony toys to get my son for Christmas. While Ed does enjoy and play with many of the My Little Pony ponies/dolls available it can be a challenge for my son to be allowed to freely play with them sometimes due to the misperceptions of other adults in his life. *coughCHRIScough* Plus my son wouldn't mind having a "brony" since it can get boring to play with only one gender.

To Whom It May Concern:

I'm a long time fan of the My Little Pony toys from the time I was a little girl to even now in my adulthood. Sadly, I have to admit that I'm very disappointed in the variety of My Little Pony ponies/dolls.

As a parent, it can be very disheartening to watch boys or girls repeatedly be turned away from toys they are interested in because the toy is considered a specific gender's toy. Children of both genders enjoy toys of all colors and types, where the only limit should be child's imagination. Toys help children learn through play. Just as it is wrong and unthinkable to limit age-appropriate education based on gender; it is wrong to limit children's play based on gender.

Unfortunately, children are constantly being limited in play and having their learning potential limited by toys marketed only to one specific gender while ignoring the other gender. Part of the solution is caregivers who let children play with any age-appropriate toys regardless of the gender specific marketing. A much larger part is toy companies making toys that incorporate images that show all kinds of children playing with the toys, shedding the discriminatory marketing tactics and having toy lines that encourages all children to feel comfortable, safe, and secure in selecting and playing with the toys.

The My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episodes on Hub are appealing to all children but the My Little Pony toys are so heavily marketed in an old fashioned and sexist manner that the My Little Pony toyline ignores boys completely. So while many boys enjoy My Little Pony and all children could enjoy the My Little Pony toys, only one gender of ponies are made and the only male toy of the whole My Little Pony line is Spike a baby dragon that is sold as an accessory to Twilight Sparkle pony/doll. There is not a single male pony aka "Brony" toy currently available as part of the My Little Pony brand. It is unacceptable and disgraceful. The obvious lack of one gender except for one that is considered a "pet" and accessory sends the troubling message that boys are only good as objects or servants.

I am pleased to see the female populace of My Little Pony are independent, intelligent, capable and powerful in their own right but there is no reason why males can't be included in the toyline. Without the implied message that they only way women can be capable, intelligent, and independent beings is to exclude men, infantilize them or make them a less privileged class of citizens. Equality is an important value for boys and girls. So it is important that children aren't sent confusing messages that undermine this core value.

While some children may not find the lack of a gender in their toys limiting, it is much harder for children to gain access to the toys due to adult misperception that My Little Pony toys are "just for girls" or Transformer toys are "just for boys". Children who enjoy the My Little Pony brand would be empowered by having variety to select ponies/dolls of either gender to play with.

I personally was hoping that by winter holiday shopping time this year Hasbro would have recognized the unexpectedly large demographic of male My Little Pony fans thanks to the popularity of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic by expanding their toyline to be more friendly to all genders. Sadly, Hasbro lost out on a significant portion of my family's Christmas gift budget due to ignoring the male gender as fans and in the My Little Pony line of toys.

So I emphatically implore your company to cast off the antiquated and discriminatory ideas of the past and embrace making and marketing toys that send positive messages regardless of gender. It is a shame that your company will lose precious potential customers in a tough economic time due to ignoring the purchasing potential of toys that encourage both genders to play.

Sincerely,

Legal Name Redacted

Originally posted by gabrielleabelle at Mississippi Personhood Amendment

Originally posted by lavenderfrost at GE, Y U NO PAY TAXES?!

Originally posted by neo_prodigy at Spirit Day

As C & P'ed from my friend brianblackberry 's LJ:

 Handy information on how to make that pesky Facebook/Twitter repost option disappear from any comments done on your post thanks to dydan  and westly_roanoke :

.b-repost-item {display:none}

For those of you that don't know how to do that, well....here's what you gotta do.

1. Go to your "Journal" menu, and select "Journal Style"
2. To the right, you'll see what theme you're using, with a link stating "Customize Your Theme". Click that link.
3. Scroll down a little ways, and you'll see that on the left side of your screen, you have multiple options to modify your theme. Click on the "Custom CSS" link, and it should load the options for doing Custom CSS.
4. From here, all you have to do is go to the "Custom Stylesheet", and put in that line.

.b-repost-item {display:none}

Once that's in there, you want to save the changes, and you should be done. Leave everything else as it is (unless you want to remove more things!).


I am told this may not work with free journals that have themes that do not use a custom comment page, it does work for mine (which is custom comment) thus far and for a friend (who isn't), but try it yourself and see.