Everywhere you look, from toys to websites, little girls are told that dressing up for boys is the sum total of their value.This week we have seen a toy cleaning set marketed by Sports Direct with the label “It’s Girl Stuff!”. A few days later, news emerged that Harrods was offering little girls the chance to be turned into Disney princesses for just £1,000 a pop (or £100 for the princess on a budget). Then an Everyday Sexism Twitter follower alerted me to a website offering girly games from Bratz Makeover to Hollywood Beauty Secrets. Read her brilliant blog about it here.
The Harrods Disney experience, complete with sparkly makeover and deluxe princess dress, is aimed at girls aged three to 12 and culminates in an oath where princesses’ vow, among other things, to be “kind and gentle”. Perhaps not the best advice for future boardroom battles or climbing the steely managerial ladder, but of course, those aren’t the sort of roles one would expect a princess to aspire to. Girls lucky enough to be treated to the full £1,000 royal experience come away with a case full of makeup too – just the thing for the under-12s!