I know that no gay person would dare go on this forum but it is pretty entertaining to me but sad at the same time how bigoted these parents and how helpful the comments are to them. Its a whole new world. I wish I could undercover and straighten them out.
Pardon me, but I don't think I understand what you're trying to convey... it's like I think I get it but i don't think I get it...
'Family' makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. And then I look at the stereotypical nuclear family, and the desperately, needlessly conservative connotations 'family' can convey at the moment.
The homphobic organization "Focus on the Family" has a parenting forum and I was just overwhelmed by how brainwashed these parents are. I thought I would make a thread about it. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Focus on the Family has been around long before the internet, and churches would encourage members to subscribe to that guy's magazine. I think his name is Dr. Dobson? One thing he told parents in the 1980s was that Star Wars was evil movie and to forbid your child to see it in theaters or they will come out anti-Chrisitans. He paralleled the Empire and the Force to things in the Bible and said all sorts of things about it creating a cult. Most elementary school boys I knew at a Christian school got to see it before me, and had action figures, and mom DID let me go, but she went with me. We both had a good time. Another thing he wrote was that Barbie dolls should be forbidden to girls. Why? They give them a bad body image of women and will scar them for life trying to become one. Well, didn't happen to me...I never wanted to look like a plastic doll, I wanted to have an Adam's apple and be more like GI Joe! So it is based on morality of a guy with a doctorate who I do not think is an ordained pastor, kinda like Pat Robertson...but with more clout.
I totally agree with everything else you said, but this is slightly different. I'm not saying that Barbie should be banned, but I definitely see how it can negatively impact some young girls when one of their role models (somebody who is essentially marketed as the 'perfect woman') has a body type that is not even physically or physiologically possible. There are many families that would prefer not to expose their children to that sort of unhealthy body imagery.
I think as long as the parents make clear that the dolls are fake, there is not a problem. Growing up, I played with bratz dolls and barbies. My parents also taught me about body image and how to love my body even though it might not looks like those dolls. So, as long as children are taught to look at the dolls as toys and not as "the perfect body image", then I don't see a problem with them. The problem comes when parents give girls (and some guys) these toys and tell them that they are the perfect body image that they should strive for. Some parents don't talk about body image at all. This make the child form their own opinions. This is where the problems come in with these toys.
I went on those forums and noticed two things: 1. All the posts by moderators just seemed to be like those generic "Your time is valuable to us" kind of e-mails. 2. They have no idea how to 'deal' with their LGBT children, which is understandable since they've never really had to interact with LGBT people at all in their entire life. I'm actually thinking about going on their and mentioning the sermon I heard on "Does the church hate gays?" even though I don't agree with the "Marriage is between a man and a woman." part.
