Hello Kitty has something to say

Candace N. Gardener at Muse and fury notices a facial feature missing from Hello Kitty: the mouth.

Many girls world-wide absolutely love Hello Kitty. Candace points out the political aspect of the missing meow mouth:

"The message here is loud and clear (unlike HK’s voice): don’t just be quiet and passive, be Silent. You have nothing to say—you are forbidden from speaking. Stop thinking and feeling too."

Feminist Allies, a team-blog by feminist men, points to a post by Kameron Hurley of Brutal Women and comments on it:

"First of all, I love that Kameron said something, 'even' in a workplace situation. This is exactly the sort of day-to-day fight that it is sometimes hard to fight as a feminist. But I think it cuts to the heart of the disingenuousness of people who say that they're not being sexist, exactly, but that they'd be disappointed if they had a girl. And I think a lot can be understood as you start to figure out why you want a child of a particular sex, whether you desire a boy or you desire a girl."

Read "The Gender Essentialism of 'Wanting a Boy'" by Jeff at Feminist Allies.

A couple of pointers to carnivals: The next Radical Women of Color Carnival will be hosted by Tigera Consciente at team-blog Street Photojournalism Reppin' Da Town. The deadline is September 30th, and you can email submissions to RosaDominicana AT gmail DOT com. See this post for details. Hat-tip: Women of Color Blog.

And the latest issue of The Carnival of Feminists is up at Redemption Blues.

Image: Muse and fury. Also posted at BlogHer.