When I was little I played a retro styled board game called “The Barbie Game: Queen of the Prom.” It was very similar to all the games described in Jennifer Scanlon’s Boys-R-Us: Board Games and the Socialization of Young Adolescent Girls. The goal was to get a date to the prom and become prom queen. When my little sister and I played the game, we put a greater emphasis on choosing the man to date than the game intended (or did it?). We always pretended that we would marry the man that took you to prom. In the game I always wanted to go out with the nerdy boy, Poindexter, because I thought he would be more faithful to me than the hunky Ken, Tom and Ben.
When I actually was in high school I met the guy I am still with today. In high school we temporarily broke up around prom time and I never was able to go. Honestly, I still think with resentment about the prom I missed. I know this is laughable but from reflecting on how I played this game, prom meant and sadly still means a lot to me. It seems like a magical dream night that I as a girl was somehow entitled to. Never having experienced it I think I still have a child’s mentality of it.
Now that I am back with that same boyfriend from high school, I wonder: did not going to prom together affect how I think of him as a future life partner? Because don’t forget, in my child mind going to prom with Poindexter meant marriage (and probably babies)! I never realized what a stupid board game could do to the way I thought of life. If I have children I will ask family and friends to choose non gendered toys as gifts. This way kids are able to create healthier ideas of life, partners and what is most important.
It's funny how games can do that. Do you know a game called M.A.S.H.? The first category in the game was husband. Then there were others such as job, number of kids, etc. At the end of the game though, when my friends and I played it was really important who we "married". It trumped the other categories even though it was just a silly game. Funny how much games influence us.
ReplyDeleteGreat story! It seems that most girls tend to sub-consciously compare our fairy tale lives with our actual lives which probably has a lot to do with the games we played when we were younger.
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