Gender Neutral Boy (video interview)
Thomas Hudson Pickering aka "Ranch Chimp", "Commie Tommie" & "Skool" (short for old school) to kid's locally
This posting for the "Battle of the Dolls" series will have to go to the new neutral- gender story for the Target Stores in America, which has raised alot of controversy. And Thanx to my daughter for bringing this up to me the other day in some small chat humour, because I didnt even know about this, I asked her to fill me in since she is in the business of marketing ... she basically told me she couldnt believe that Americans dont have anything better to do, but gripe about this stuff ... so I decided to do a posting on this. But forget all the serious issues in politics, wars, 401K's and market losses, terrorism, etc, etc ... this is a subject once again that has Americans panties in a bind coast to coast (both boyz & girlz panties I may add). Of course I am also a fan of gender- neutral sports as you can see below with a favourite wrestler of mine I love to watch in action ... "G.I. Ho" ... and I added my gender- neutral photo above to be fashionable as well, as you can see my hair is like a woman's and I have a mustache & goatee of a man. And dont blame this solely on Target if your against this ... you can credit some of it to "G.I. Joe" and "Barbie" ... a couple more controversial figures that have sparked years of battle between the sexes and left/ right political and religious establishments. I think it is safe to say that "G.I. Joe" also influenced "G.I. Ho" to some degree, so we ALL influence and inspire each other. No doubt, it's enough to start a 2nd Civil War in America {: )
Some folks blame our neglect to do gender neutrality when it comes to toys for instance, on the 1950's stereotyping of boyz and girlz toys, marketing them in two categories to of course boost sales/ profits. I was a child in the 1950's and 1960's, and can honestly say that my parents had no influence on me when it came to toyz ... I just naturally went for what appealed to me when I went in a store's toy department and raided it, I didnt give a shit about gender, colours or anything. I alwayz treasured the little toy soldiers and little battle field set- ups, electric train set's, toy gun's, balls, drum kit's, Lincoln Logs, Erector Set, Etch-A-Sketch, etc ... I wanted what I wanted, plain and simple. My mom told me once, that I stomped my feet till I got a "Rifleman toy rifle" for instance, I dont remember it, but still have a picture somewhere of myself with it. Mom also told me that I had a bad habit of taking my dad's hammer and nails, and hammering nails into wall's and windowsill's damaging them, and catching and eating live spider's, as well as eating raw ground beef, thing's she said she had to spank me for time and again ... I remember none of this myself. I built my own shoe- shine box/ kit and a hunting slingshot in school woodshop as a kid, when other kids were making shelves for the walls in the homes of their parents or whatever ... I was somewhat creative, I built my own skateboard before there was skateboards. I remember a portrait photo of my dad when he was probably a year or two old wearing a dress (early 1920's), I asked my mom, why was dad wearing a dress in the picture? ... she told me it had something to do with "English custom" (my dad's familia was from England), so I thought nothing of it after mom explained to me ... but I was curious as a kid, is why I asked her.
Another thing ... there is a follow the leader cult type mentality thinking that this move by Target is to make children bisexual, transgender or whatever, but this is also silly talk, as suggested or believed by Rev.Graham. It simply is a marketing move in response to customers complaints, who are trying to avoid the usual "store confusion" and detailed hard to follow sales gimmicks, it also helps the customer economize their budget better, giving a more wider neutral selection, and save shopping time. If you buy bedding for instance for the kid's ... is it importante to know if it is designed for a boy or girl? Do not these "straight families" of "straight children", not have kid's where the daughter commonly borrows and wears a brother's T- shirt, jacket, etc? ... so of course it's common in even the most straight and religious families, and been for decades, so there is no reason to make this a religious or political issue either. Below, first linked is a Washington Post article that had me laughing up a storm while reading it ... then I wanted to add a few videos with different points of view and genders to give their opinions on this hot issue. The first will be the mom, Abi Bechtel, that inspired Target to change, as she was frustrated in the toyz department when shopping ... and she look's rough, but I sure wouldnt want her to pin me down like I would with G.I. Ho. The 2nd "FOX" video/ news link interview with Rev.Franklin Graham who is outraged as well, and want's a nationwide boycott of Target, I believe based on some religion he market's. And last but not least, a little young lady named Riley, shopping in a toyz department, who is just plain fed up with the way toyz are marketed, and wants an end to the boy/ girl thing ... Enjoy! {: )
***** A little closing joke I wanted to add, that may get folks panties in a bind, but try to look at it with a little humour ...
***** Question: Why does a man with so much money like Michael Jackson, go shopping at places like Target or WalMart?
***** Answer: He goes for the sale of "Boys Pants Half Off"
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***** WASHINGTON POST: Target will stop labeling toys for boys or for girls. Good.
"G.I. Ho" (professional wrestler who I wouldnt mind losing to and getting pinned to the mat by her)
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Target Sign For Girls' Building Blocks Starts Twitter Debate ... Thanx to Newsy Business
***** FOX NEWS: Rev. Franklin Graham Slams Target for Removing Gender- Based Signs from Stores ... (video/ newsread)
Riley on Marketing ... Thanx to DBARRY1917
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***** PD/ RCJ: "BATTLE OF THE DOLLS" PART'S 9 THRU 1
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***** RANCH CHIMP JOURNAL "WELCOME" POST
***** RCJ MUSIC/ ART'S HONOUR ROLL SOCIETY (my hand- selected music/ arts picks)
***** RCJ/ THOMAS PICKERING: GOOGLE+ (video posts)
***** THE RESISTANCE/ PERIL'S OF THE POWER POSSE (inspiration for hope & change) ... to be viewed as a "profit- see", not a "prophecy".
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Of all the nonsense for people to get worked up about -- your daughter is right -- don't people have more important things to do?
ReplyDeleteKids experiment and try things out. Tell them that "such-and-such thing isn't for you" and it will just make that thing all the more enticing to them, with the aura of the forbidden.
Little Riley is way smarter than the adults who are making a fuss.
As for that "English custom", men dressing up as women has been part of English "pop culture" for centuries. You can see it in Monty Python, but it's part of folk traditions and festivals that go back for generations. I've read that some uptight religious nut wrote a letter to King James I asking him to ban the tradition, and that would have been about 400 years ago. I guess these panties-in-a-bind types have always been around.
My daughter is in marketing Infidel, so she has to look at things like this and the sales strategies, etc ... she is in the auto industry, and knows quite a bit about cars and a good driver, better than many guys I know ... by some of these folks standards, they would look at my daughter as trying to be a man I guess.
ReplyDeleteEven though I have familia in England and been there myself, I never kept up with or followed the English customs much ... I mean, I view it very similar to America. I only watched Monty Python once and that was many years ago. Wrote a letter to King James asking him to ban tradition??!! ... Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh ... the same King James that they follow his Bible ... um, um, um ... imagine that. (I didnt know that one)
Little Riley isnt programmed and contaminated yet by political correctness, institutions of religious and left/ right politic's, etc ... so she ask's the thing's that make sense, the thing's that many adults fail to for one reason or another. That is also why I like to ask children for their POV and advice on certain things, so I can get it straight. And she should be pissed ... she is a future paying customer ... the customer should alwayz come first, the way I see it. Thanx for your voice on this one Infidel.