As Sally has\u00a0followed the news coverage this election cycle, she\u00a0has had quite a number of moments of confusion. For example,\u00a0I had to\u00a0explain to her that we\u2019ve never had a woman president before. She didn\u2019t know that. I\u00a0showed her a list of pictures of former presidents. She was shocked<\/em>. She\u2019d\u00a0assumed we\u2019d had woman presidents before. I had to explain\u00a0to her that some people don\u2019t think a woman\u00a0should be president, and again, she was aghast\u2014why?<\/em>\u00a0And again I had to explain. Again she was shocked.\u00a0She\u2019d taken it for granted that women were just as qualified and just as able to be president as men were\u2014I mean, wasn\u2019t that obvious?<\/em><\/p>\n It didn\u2019t seem at all odd to Sally that Ghostbusters starred four women. She takes it for granted that there are movies with female leads. The children\u2019s movies she\u2019s grown up on have plenty of female leads\u2014Tip in Home, Elsa in Frozen, Riley in Inside Out. Why shouldn\u2019t a movie like Ghostbusters star female leads? It also doesn\u2019t seem odd to Sally that women would be scientists. She has woman scientists in her extended family.\u00a0Sally takes it for granted that women do all the same things men do\u2014not simply that they can<\/em> do those things, but that they do<\/em> do those things. I\u2019m sure this is partly the result of growing up in a home with parents who teach her that girls (just like boys) can do anything they put their minds to. But partly this is a result of living in a society where it is no longer strange to see women in all sorts of positions, across careers and subject areas.<\/p>\n In other words, Sally has grown up assuming that women have all of the same opportunities that men do. That seems natural and right to her. What does not<\/em> seem natural or right is clothing sections in box stores. She gets annoyed to all get out<\/em> with the explosions of pink and purple and ruffles. It\u2019s not that she doesn\u2019t like dresses\u2014she does! It\u2019s that she gets annoyed with the expectations<\/em> of gender presentation. I\u2019ve always told Sally\u00a0that she can wear what she wants, and that\u2019s what she does, but that means choosing\u00a0a mixture of clothing from the girls\u2019 section and the boys\u2019 section, and that<\/em> means dealing with being told off for that by adults or other children.<\/p>\n It\u2019s to the point where defending her clothing and style choices has become a sort of reflexive habit for Sally. \u201cI\u2019m a girl!<\/em>\u201d she\u2019ll tell the adult who just referred to her as my son. \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as boy shoes or girl shoes, just shoes,\u201d she\u2019ll tell the little girl on the playground who told her she was wearing \u201cboy shoes.\u201d If you want to hear Sally go on a rant, just ask her about gendered clothing and marketing. There may come a day when she faces gender-based discrimination in hiring or promotion, but right now her struggle starts (and ends) with her dresser.<\/p>\n What does all of this have to do with Ghostbusters? The magic and allure of Ghostbusters, for me at least, is that the film\u00a0takes down gender tropes with an ease that makes it feel completely and totally real,\u00a0<\/em>and not at all put-on. The four female leads come across as believable and\u00a0authentic<\/em>. They\u2019re just four people following their passion and creating jobs for themselves doing something they love. And their sense of fashion and style? That\u2019s very individual (and very real) as well. They\u2019re confident, they\u2019re capable, and they forge their own<\/em> way.<\/p>\n Gender-based discrimination in hiring and promotion, obtaining paid maternity leave and childcare subsidies\u2014these things\u00a0are not on my daughter\u2019s radar, and are (largely) absent from Ghostbusters. The things that are on my daughter\u2019s radar? Being allowed to be who you are, with no excuses and no apologies, no matter who laughs at you or thinks you\u2019re nuts? Those things are threaded through the movie. Those things are, in some sense, the heart<\/em> of the movie. Ghostbusters hits at exactly what children like my daughter need to hear\u2014and see. I\u2019m having a hard time thinking of better role models for my daughter\u2014or a movie with a better message.<\/p>\n It didn’t seem at all odd to Sally that Ghostbusters starred four women. She takes it for granted that there are movies with female leads. The children’s movies she’s grown up on have plenty of female leads—Tip in Home, Elsa in Frozen, Riley in Inside Out. Why shouldn’t a movie like Ghostbusters star female leads? It also doesn’t seem odd to Sally that women would be scientists. She has woman scientists in her extended family. <\/p>\n Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":29894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[391,601],"class_list":["post-29891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feminism","tag-film","tag-ghostbusters"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.boston.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/ghostbusters-equipment-jpg-850x478%24large.jpg\")
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