The Gender Politics of Teddy Bears
Jun. 17th, 2008 12:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerSameer Mishra is in last week’s Newsweek. NEWSWEEK. ZOMG.
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My teddy bear is very, very happy to be home. He enjoyed college (except for the occasional threats to life and limb from the Bangladeshi contingent) but there’s nothing like breathing the sweet air of Indiana and being re-ensconced in his own personal chair.
Someone should do a study in the gender identity of teddy bears. Teddy (I have multiple teddies, but my favorite is Teddy, who is small and white and scruffy and has red plaid ears and foot paws) has mostly been male, although occasionally female when it was convenient.
Teddy bears are one of the few toys I can think of that aren’t generally limited to one gender (unless they’re pink). Both boys and girls are allowed to haul around stuffed animals and chew on their paws and send them on commando raids under the dining room table.
Also, teddy bears combine stereotypically male and female attributes: they’re protective and strong, but also cuddly and comforting.
But despite this androgynous nature, teddy bears themselves seem always to be male. Stuffed animals in books are almost always male: All the characters in Winnie the Pooh except Kanga. Almost all the characters in the Jolly Tall books. Corduroy. Paddington Bear. Clearly it’s a conspiracy of the patriarchy.
And it doesn’t help that society would consider it a bit off if a little boy had a female telepathic companion teddy. But a girl having a boy teddy? That’s just par for the course.
***
On a sort-of related note. According to the Teddy Bear Encyclopedia, the collective noun for teddy bears is “a hug of teddy bears,” which sounds just right.
Are there teddy bear gender nouns? Bears have bruins and sows, which are way too macho for teddies.
***
My teddy bear is very, very happy to be home. He enjoyed college (except for the occasional threats to life and limb from the Bangladeshi contingent) but there’s nothing like breathing the sweet air of Indiana and being re-ensconced in his own personal chair.
Someone should do a study in the gender identity of teddy bears. Teddy (I have multiple teddies, but my favorite is Teddy, who is small and white and scruffy and has red plaid ears and foot paws) has mostly been male, although occasionally female when it was convenient.
Teddy bears are one of the few toys I can think of that aren’t generally limited to one gender (unless they’re pink). Both boys and girls are allowed to haul around stuffed animals and chew on their paws and send them on commando raids under the dining room table.
Also, teddy bears combine stereotypically male and female attributes: they’re protective and strong, but also cuddly and comforting.
But despite this androgynous nature, teddy bears themselves seem always to be male. Stuffed animals in books are almost always male: All the characters in Winnie the Pooh except Kanga. Almost all the characters in the Jolly Tall books. Corduroy. Paddington Bear. Clearly it’s a conspiracy of the patriarchy.
And it doesn’t help that society would consider it a bit off if a little boy had a female telepathic companion teddy. But a girl having a boy teddy? That’s just par for the course.
***
On a sort-of related note. According to the Teddy Bear Encyclopedia, the collective noun for teddy bears is “a hug of teddy bears,” which sounds just right.
Are there teddy bear gender nouns? Bears have bruins and sows, which are way too macho for teddies.
