As I was watching Big Brother last night, as I would normally do on Sunday nights in the summer, a commercial for Amazon came up. Since the fast forward function sadly does not work on live television, (which, is an invention I hope someone somewhere will eventually figure out) I watched this Amazon commercial, not really thinking anything of it. The commercial was showing a history between a dad and his daughter, which seems fairly tame, until you think about what it's actually saying.

At first, the dad bought a tutu from Amazon, in order to show support for his daughter and do ballet with her, but his daughter doesn't want to do ballet, she wants to skateboard and do more "boyish" types of activities. There is nothing wrong with her wanting to skateboard instead of doing ballet, and Amazon has done nothing wrong by including these desires into its commercial, my views are something I have considered for a while, and this commercial sort of just sealed the deal.

I understand that by including girls into a more seemingly male-dominated activity, we are making a feminist statement and saying girls are able to do whatever they want. But, is that really what commercials like this Amazon one and society end up saying? What if a little girl watching that commercial does want to do ballet? Is there something wrong with that? I understand that no one is saying that there is, but the little girl watching who wants to do ballet might think there is. Where we used to ostracize girls who wanted to skateboard, society almost ostracizes girls who do want to do ballet and "girly" things. Just like a boy can do ballet and skateboard, a girl can also do ballet and skateboard. Media does not have to present it like it is two different extremes, there can be a happy medium on this issue.

We don't have to push feminism down the throats of young people, we should just show equal representation, where some girls like ballet, some girls like to skateboard, and some like to do both or neither.

It extends beyond the issue of hobbies. Women who choose to stay home with their children are just as feminist as women who choose to go out and work. Both are admirable, both are important, and both are vulnerable. "Feminist" doesn't have to be pushed on us in the way that it is. Feminist should mean equal choice, a chance to make our own decisions and rock those choices, hopefully impacting and inspiring lives in the process.

The dad in the Amazon commercial doesn't have to return the tutu, he can get the skateboard gear too.