“Taught from infancy that beauty is woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.” - Mary Wollstonecraft

For those that have not had the pleasure of watching the ‘Winx Club’ - It’s a children’s TV show in which six fairies (and some small pixie things) tackle evil whilst still managing to look good. Originally an Italian animation series which began in 2004, Winx is now somewhat of a worldwide phenomenon that appears on over 100 children’s channels. It has spawned a myriad of merchandising ventures. Recently, a feature film was made and there are plans for another series and film to be released soon. It was originally conceived of by Iginio Straffi, who also happens to have created the production company responsible for Winx (Rainbow S.p.A) and made himself the CEO.

What is my beef with the cute little characters? As a feminist (and a human being), I see that gender role socialisation is an issue which harms both of the sexes. It’s unnecessary, it’s harmful, it’s unacceptable. The Winx Club, with their tiny clothes and tiny little brains seem to epitomise the message of children’s television about what it means to have a vagina. All of the elements are there, and conveniently encapsulated within the one minute opening sequence. I can’t hide my surprise that not only this level of sexism is still acceptable to the public, but we are letting thousands upon thousands of children view and internalise something which inherently aims to box them in.

Aimed at an audience demographic of 6 - 14 year old girls, the highly sexualised nature of these characters/role models seems to jar somewhat with the modern anti-paedophilic ideology. I have my own opinions on that issue, but I just wanted to highlight the fact that it may make little sense to encourage pre-pubescent children to thrust, pose and wear bikinis as everyday garb. Furthermore, I will in fact contend the assertion that the target audience scales all the way up to the age of fourteen, as will anybody with a scrap of intelligence that has seen an episode. These women (I will refer to them as because they appear very sexually mature) have noticeably large breasts and hips with a very small waist and enormously long legs. They all wear high-heeled footwear, make-up, and take an active interest in ‘fashion’. They have large, youthful eyes, tiny button noses and cupid bow lips. To put it bluntly, they are inhuman. They have the physique of Barbie, which is so overwhelmingly dangerous it really does make you wonder why it’s still promoted.

If you should so wish, visit the official Winx website and have a browse of some of the character biographies on there. There are a total of six fairies, each with minimally different powers and personalities. Well, different powers - they do all have the same personality - just differing hair and eye colours. The website will give you a half-arsed attempt at ‘the clever one’, ‘the sporty one’ et cetera, but a viewing of any given episode will you illustrate that the characters act collectively and almost always unanimously. There is a token woman of colour, who is relatively new to this kind of thing but has bags of determination and sportiness. Notice also that ‘Techna’ (the clever one), apologises for her use of logical self-confidence, claiming it makes her seem cold and aloof.

This programme, and many others targeted at young girls is fundamentally different from those targeted at young boys. Yes, they are taking it upon themselves to be involved in the world. Unfortunately, that is because they possess mystical magical girly powers which ultimately serve to discredit anything they do and keeps a section of activities free for only the men to do. They will not use force against anybody. They have to hug each other in order to use their combined powers. The little pixie friends use something called a ‘love explosion’ in order to convert the gruff nasty (and masculine) enemies into placid friendly allies. Examining each of the girls individually we have the special powers of music, nature, sportiness, geekiness, gardening and shopping. Conversely, if you switch on any channel for 6 year old boys you will see: cars/machinery of some kind, superheros, and a scientifically plotting mastermind.

The sexual motif permeates throughout the Winx brand and everything it turns its hand to. I’d like to just nudge our attention to the clip of the opening sequence that I provided at the beginning of this post. Essentially, it shows ‘Bloom’s transition to the ranks of the Winx Club and gives us a taster of their philosophy for life. Predictably, once Bloom has shed her jeans and t-shirt for something more suitable (read: skanky) she is now a fully fledged magical creature. She then goes on to strip randomly for a fraction of a second at 0:52, before searching for ‘the fire deep inside’ which involves jutting her hips out suggestively. Incidentally, the timing of the lyrics alongside the imagery in this sequence is flawless. You’ll notice that after being told your dreams can come true, stereotypical husband material flashes upon the screen. As he is a man, he’s direct heir to the throne, an expert fighter pilot and swordsman who wants to protect the magical world from dark forces. And then there are instances of strange innuendos such as this quote by ‘Layla’ - “Once I perfect my skills at Alfea College I’ll be able to control all liquids!”

Objectification thus continues throughout the second verse when the ladies proclaim the odd sentiment: “We’ve got the style, and we’ve got the flair - look all you want, but don’t touch the hair!” Sound familiar? Yes, it’s pretty much like being in a strip club - except your 7 year old daughter is there, too. In order to further understand the message of what is acceptable, we have to understand that it’s something defined by the negative. By looking at the representation of the evil female characters in the programmes, we can tell what we’re supposed to steer away from too. What we see when we look at them are three women with a penchant for dark hair colour, dark make-up and more modest clothing. However, even they do not escape the subordination as they appear to be held directly accountable to a male authority figure in most of the episodes I’ve seen thus far.

We seem to be all about defending with fierce passion the perceived ‘innocence’ of children. It’s a father’s nightmare for his daughter to sleep around. In a society where these notions in themselves are already flawed, and we can’t seem to be consistent about what we do believe in - what the hell are kids supposed to make of products like Winx? Isn’t innocence always unsuspicious?