Complaining Time
Hello there! Covid kicked my butt, but luckily I had it at my Mum's place, and was able to isolate without too much trouble. It's the cold I caught straight afterwards that sucked. However, the lovely Lederhosen flew up to help me drive back, because there's no way I could have otherwise.
Now. The complaint. I just got the latest Spotlight catalogue, and I am not happy. So here's the email I sent them.
Greetings!
I'm writing to complain about the Book Week costumes and their wearers in the latest VIP letter and catalogue.
Most of the female people wearing costumes are wearing either princess/fairy/good witch dresses or ones linked to female-specific roles (Mary Poppins). Two, yes, are in female superhero outfits (Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman), but not one is in a gender-neutral role such as a pilot or a doctor or a scientist. Where's the Marie Curie, the Nancy Wake, the Amelia Earhart? There is one child who could be female, who is dressed as the Mad Hatter, but all the rest of the obviously-female models are stereotypically shown.
Every male is in a male action role, and all but one are superheroes. The one exception, Banjo (Bluey's dad) is at least an excellent role model for fathers, but where's all the rest of the male book characters who could be less stereotypical? Where's the potters and the cooks and the innumerable men in books who are carers and performing non-traditional roles? As a business involved in creating, and who (I have no doubt) would like to encourage more men to sew and knit and embroider, surely it would make sense to sell costumes of men doing such things?
Finally, not ONE of the models seems to be a person of colour. With our gloriously diverse Australian population, (one in six of us from a background that is not Eurocentric - thanks, 2021 census!), out of the 15 models in the letter at least two should be people of colour. Of the 21 in the catalogue, 5 have their faces covered so it's hard to tell, but there definitely should be much better representation of the diversity.
So. Please. Do better. You've got Hallowe'en coming up. I want to see diversity, interchangeable roles, opportunities for people wearing costumes outside the stock types they're normally seen in.
You know you can be brilliant at this.
Regards
TL:DR stop putting girls and women in princess and female-dominated role costumes, and give the guys a chance to wear something different too, and, speaking of different, where's our cultural diversity in the representation of the models?
Copied from the entry on Dreamwidth
Now. The complaint. I just got the latest Spotlight catalogue, and I am not happy. So here's the email I sent them.
Greetings!
I'm writing to complain about the Book Week costumes and their wearers in the latest VIP letter and catalogue.
Most of the female people wearing costumes are wearing either princess/fairy/good witch dresses or ones linked to female-specific roles (Mary Poppins). Two, yes, are in female superhero outfits (Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman), but not one is in a gender-neutral role such as a pilot or a doctor or a scientist. Where's the Marie Curie, the Nancy Wake, the Amelia Earhart? There is one child who could be female, who is dressed as the Mad Hatter, but all the rest of the obviously-female models are stereotypically shown.
Every male is in a male action role, and all but one are superheroes. The one exception, Banjo (Bluey's dad) is at least an excellent role model for fathers, but where's all the rest of the male book characters who could be less stereotypical? Where's the potters and the cooks and the innumerable men in books who are carers and performing non-traditional roles? As a business involved in creating, and who (I have no doubt) would like to encourage more men to sew and knit and embroider, surely it would make sense to sell costumes of men doing such things?
Finally, not ONE of the models seems to be a person of colour. With our gloriously diverse Australian population, (one in six of us from a background that is not Eurocentric - thanks, 2021 census!), out of the 15 models in the letter at least two should be people of colour. Of the 21 in the catalogue, 5 have their faces covered so it's hard to tell, but there definitely should be much better representation of the diversity.
So. Please. Do better. You've got Hallowe'en coming up. I want to see diversity, interchangeable roles, opportunities for people wearing costumes outside the stock types they're normally seen in.
You know you can be brilliant at this.
Regards
TL:DR stop putting girls and women in princess and female-dominated role costumes, and give the guys a chance to wear something different too, and, speaking of different, where's our cultural diversity in the representation of the models?
Copied from the entry on Dreamwidth