"You're Such a Girl!"

Since when is being a girl a negative thing?  Since when is it okay to make fun of people for being who they are?  For saying the word, "girl" in such a way that implies one is a sissy, a wimp, weak, can't do something, etc? This drives me crazy to no end.

Husband was watching a cartoon the other day while Baby and I were in the room.  Have you noticed cartoons these days are totally different from when we were kids?  Maybe it's just me.  I was sheltered and didn't really watch cartoons when I was young (unless I was at a friend's house and snuck one in).   Husband had a lot more variety in his television viewing and to this day still enjoys watching his cartoons (and to clarify, this was not an adult cartoon, but one specifically geared toward children and teens).

I try really hard to limit Baby's television time, but Husband was enjoying this cartoon and Baby was happily playing, so I didn't address the issue.  However, I did pay attention to the cartoon.  Let me say, it just made me mad.  There were a number of things that I had a problem exposing my daughter too, among them being the aggression and the fighting between characters, the lack of integrity (one of the characters had made a deal with another, but ran away because he got what he wanted and didn't want to follow through on his end), the betrayal of another character's trust (the same character tricked his friend into doing something for him and passed his problem off on his friend, leaving him to deal with it), and the name calling.

In one scene, the characters were fighting and one of them (I think it was a male, but I'm not sure), called another one (a female), a "girl."  She responds with, "What did you just call me?"  And the other character replies, "You heard me."  Then the girl does some super power shield thing that knocks the other character off its feet.

Baby was in the room the whole time, possible hearing and absorbing this encounter.  Having it sink in.  I can't help but to get angry at the message she is hearing.  That being a girl is something one doesn't want to be.  That it's not okay to be herself, that she needs to somehow overcome who she is. I heard someone say this phrase the other day when Baby and I were out.  I bristled, but didn't know how to react.  I just ignored it.

I want Baby to know that she's capable of doing anything she sets her mind to, no matter what her gender. That it doesn't matter what people call her.  She doesn't have to be ashamed, and she doesn't have anything to prove.

I know, you're thinking I'm overreacting.  I'm taking this way too seriously.  Maybe I am, maybe I'm not.  I just know I'm not okay with it.