Representation Matters

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One day, we were in the car when Claire (3.5years) said something about superheroes. I asked her what a superhero was. She proclaimed confidently, “Guys who save people.”

“Just guys?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Can’t girls save people?”

Silence.

“Do you know any girls who save people?”

“No,” Claire said, without emotion.

My heart sank. “Do you know any guys who save people?”

“Yeah—Spiderman, Batman,” she listed. I wondered how she knew about these characters, considering we’ve never talked or read about them at home, and she hasn’t seen them on screens. But then I thought about the Band-Aids, backpacks, shirts, etc. that are plastered with (mostly male) superheroes.

“What about Mulan? Isn’t she a girl who saves people?” I asked, since we had just read a book about Mulan.

She agreed, but then I realized that even Mulan has to dress like—and pass for—a boy in the story.

After our conversation, I was devastated. My husband and I work hard to promote female equality and empowerment. We talk with Claire about how strong women are, and we are sure to point out exemplary women. When we read her historical fiction, like the American Girl books, we discuss how, a long time ago, girls often weren’t allowed to do everything that boys could do, and how that was “silly” and “annoying”. I talk to her about Kamala Harris running for president but haven’t yet told her that we’ve never had a female president.

But even with all of our intentionality, Claire is still internalizing a deficit gender mentality.

Being in academia, I have always known that representation matters. But now I’m seeing it up close and personal with my own child, and it’s hitting me in a different way.

Once, I caught Claire standing awkwardly over the toilet. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, “Peeing like Ryder!” (Ryder is the leader of the Paw Patrol, a team of six animated pups—five male and one female, noticeably adorned in pink—who solve problems in Adventure Bay.) While I have absolutely no issue with Claire imitating boys, I fear that it’s because there simply isn’t enough strong female representation for young girls. And I can’t imagine if we were people of color or she was a child with a disability.

Even the Mulan book came out of this conversation. Crispin had noticed that our home library—which is not atypical—didn’t have many strong female leads. Crispin mentioned this absence to a female coworker, and soon after, a copy of Mulan showed up on his office desk.

I told my friend about my heart-wrenching superhero exchange with Claire, and she hunted down the Batgirl and Wonder Woman early readers for us. Claire devoured them. I think we had read each one 6 times to her in the first 24 hours. She’d bring them to the breakfast and dinner table and avidly flip through the pages. She went around after that, bending her arm (but not flexing—haha), commanding everyone she saw to “Look at my muscles! I’m so strong!” Her joy was palpable.

It’s better than it was when I was young. Disney is making strides with Inside Out, Moana, and Frozen, and some published board books feature children of different races/ethnicities, different ability levels, and speaking different languages. I not only showed Claire YouTube clips of Simone Biles at the Paris Olympics, but also of some of the events at the Paralympic Games, which were easily accessible. Materials for older kids are reflecting more diversity. But we need to do better. We need more strong female and BIPOC characters in books, shows, and movies for kids. Otherwise, parents who are trying to empower their young girls will forever be swimming against the tide.

It’s past time.

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Meghan Moran Wilson
Meghan moved to Flagstaff from Western New York in 2011 to pursue a PhD in Applied Linguistics. She met her now husband a couple years later and they bought an off-grid, water-catchment house in "the 40s" (about 35 minutes from town). She greatly enjoys teaching English and conducting research in linguistics at NAU. She also enjoys hiking, riding horses, exploring new places, reading historical fiction, hanging out with their four dogs, and, since January 2021, spending as much time as possible with their small fry, Claire Angelina.