August 07, 2007

Geena Davis Spoke Yesterday.

on behalf of See Jane, her new entertainment watchdog group that looks at issues of gender disparity in children's entertainment. So far, most of their research has focused on strict counting of characters in shows, which I don't find useful. What I find more interesting is the mushy, subjective stuff: how many strong female protagonists are there, for example? The number of "extras" in a cartoon that are male doesn't matter much to me.

And, needless to say, I'm in favor of neither government mandates on these issues, nor arbitrary guidelines that place handcuffs on writers and story editors. There are enough restraints on creativity in the world of children's programming as it is.

Nonetheless, it's worth keeping an eye on, so to speak: the idea of female visibility/freedom implied in a group like See Jane is another one of the fundamental liberal values that we need to promote. It is yet another Western notion that is under threat by Islamo-Fascism.

Just as I seek to make common cause with moderate Muslims, so I also intend to continue my dialogue with feminists who are seeking to enhance female visibility, support continuing opportunities for women, and fight the spread of Sharia law and other fundamentally sexist, oppressive political systems worldwide.

Very often, of course, the moderate Muslims and the creative feminists will turn out to be the same people. And that is delightful.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:05 AM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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