Big Hero 6 fabric excludes girl characters because boys think girls are "yuck": manufacturer

Oh holy crap that would be awesome. Hell, even done via Spoonflower would be good enough.

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Here’s my theory, FWIW: just before adolescence, kids pick up on the patriarchy’s kryptonite: proper males are somehow drawn to that which they also despise. So they ridicule this perceived weakness.

I think a non sexist society wouldn’t have ‘girl cooties’, but it would still have that fumbling awkward phase, that would truly go away and not grow rapists and rape apologists.

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The fabric company may have a keen sense of who they expect to have seen the movie, but they utterly fail to grasp who’s most likely to buy and work with their fabric.

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I polled some boys. They do not think girls are anything at all except what adults have told them. So, let’s be clear about what’s happening here: this manufacturer wants to exclude women, and thinks teaching that norm to kids is a good idea.

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Sadly, this is nothing new. Avatar: The Last Airbender had some of the best female characters seen in animation. Well-rounded, Bechdel-positive, etc., etc. A significant portion of the entire cast of characters were girls.

Guess which ones didn’t get action figures?

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Big Hero 6 fans, we at Springs Creative have heard you loud and clear!

First of all, thank you all for your feedback about our products. It is sometimes difficult to hear negative feedback but the message was clear and we intend to act upon your message.

Most importantly, Springs Creative does not condone sexism in any shape or form and does not design products to shine a negative light on females OR males. In fact, the majority of our licensed properties highlight strong female figures. We value the contributions of women greatly and are proud to say that over half of our corporate employees are indeed female. We are well represented by females in our leadership and executive positions. This issue is not something we take lightly and this is not how we operate our business as a good corporate citizen.

Our Licensing Manager is a highly professional, competent and strong woman and we stand behind her as we do all of our associates.

The good news for you is that we will be talking with our valued long term licensing partner Disney immediately about additional designs for Big Hero 6 that in fact incorporate all of the characters you know and love. We would never intentionally offend any segment of the population. We are a strong company with positive morals and values and we respect and see both genders equally.

Thank you for your support, time and attention. We sincerely believe you will be happy with the results coming your way soon.

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Ow, you made soda come out my nose.

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Policy change in less than 18 comments! I like it.

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I would buy the hell out of some of that.

Trying to find what Psychologists say about “Cooties”, I came across this:

Actually pretty interesting read, but like a lot of things, it seems to be more of a model than a definitive answer. Still, there’s at least one logical explanation for “cooties” that doesn’t require subconscious patriarchal indoctrination.

Edit: The author appears to be on the spectrum of right-leaning cranks: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Kanazawa

Yeah, I would parrot a bit of “girls are better” stuff I saw on tv but I always actually liked have male friends. And I usually has a crush on some boy or another starting in kindergarten. Later I would realize that some of my particularly strong attachments to some of my female friends were also probably crushes.

I never actually disliked boys or “boy stuff”.

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Yeah, now they do, now that it’s going viral. I’d be more impressed if the lady who’d written in had gotten that kind of response in the first place, instead of “Boys think girls are yucky, ha ha.”

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Glad to see the change of heart, but just simply saying you didn’t act in a sexist manner, doesn’t mean you didn’t.

Your license manager’s response highlighted the sexism very clearly. Doesn’t matter if she’s a “strong” woman (at least you didn’t say “fierce”), history if rife with people who bought into their own oppression.

That said, if you are sincerely making these changes, kudos and thanks for doing so quickly. Smart thinking on your part.

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This is great news. People made noise, and Springs Creative did the right thing, and with a good attitude about it!

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I don’t think it will cause the fall of our civilization

Who said it would?

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Could you make a statement directly about the “yucky” comment? Because that was pretty terrible and blatantly sexist (yes, women can be sexist, and sexism isn’t always unintentional or from a place of malice – which is why it’s important to discuss these instances and be honest about them, rather than try to brush them aside and minimize them, thanks!).

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[quote=“springscreative, post:17, topic:55309”]
Most importantly, Springs Creative does not condone sexism in any shape or form and does not design products to shine a negative light on females OR males.
[/quote]This sounds like MRA’s PR department. Beyond the complete reversal on you position, why emphasis the “or”?

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Since this is geared toward boys

Fabric? Is that what’s hot with preteen boys these days?

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It okay you can put away the torches.

Continuing to throw mud even after a problem has been dealt with what do anything.

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Thanks, I have encountered the term in pulp fiction but never had a clue what the fuck it meant. Though I have heard people repeat it.

None of them had a clue what it meant either.

I assumed cold sores.