Popular Culture Review Vol. 4, No. 2, June 1993 | Page 28

26 Popular Culture Review drive the school bus and a man teach school. Moreover, cartoons such as Scooby-Doo, Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, and the other ghost-hunters and mystery-solvers of the period featured mostly platonic groups of teenage boys and girls working together for a common goal. True, in Scooby-Doo, Thelma, "the smart one," wore glasses and sensible (read: unattractive) clothes; but at the same time, neither she nor Daphne, the more traditionally attractive member of the sleuthing party, ever displayed helplessness or cowardice, unlike Shaggy, Scooby’s beatnik-like owner. The two girls also had the respect of Alan, the traditional male in the party. The cartoon had role models for male and female children, and demonstrated interaction, not romantic rescue dynamics or catty competition for Alan. Thus, although the seventies were far from a golden age in children's culture, at least the issues of gender and acceptable behavior entered our collective consciousness. However, ever since the 1980s were under way and America "rediscovered" its traditional, conservative roots (according to Reagan-Bush Republicanism), we have seen a marked resurgence of gender separation in toys, and a barrage of traditional sex roles and stereotypical expectations accompanying them. Little girls are still mothers to a variety of baby dolls. The only difference between baby doll play in the '50s and the '90s resides in the dolls themselves. Simple baby dolls such as Baby Soft Love still occupy toy shelves, but they compete with dolls like Baby All Gone, who seems to eat the provided food, and newborn baby dolls that "shiver" until their "mothers" pick them up. Hence, the mother's role for little girls becomes more demanding through realism. Pregnancy as a "play" topic foisted onto small girls seems to be the current rage. A very recent and bizarre twist to the baby doll is the Mommy-To-Be doll, initially called Judy, and announced for "ages 3 and over" by the Judith Corporation. The doll looks more or less like Barbie but, according to advertisements, "comes complete with pregnant tummy (removable); baby; flat tummy (when baby is removed); baby carrier; maternity jump suit, blouse, shoes and hair ribbon." (What is a maternity hair ribbon?) "Husband Charlie" appears in a list of "accessories." The advertisements declare that "Judy is more than a toy, she's a natural way for your child to learn while playing." We must question, though, the "naturalness" of caesarian section, which is in effect the only way Judy can have her