The Care Bears are next

News that a character called Strawberry Shortcake has been given a makeover has been all over the US feminist blogosphere.

It’s been picked up by AfterEllen, ThinkGirl.net, Feministing, Broadsheet… But I just kind of ignored it. I don’t really know who this character is, and there’s only one kind of strawberry shortcake that interests me.

But until I’d read Andi Zeisler’s post at her Bitch magazine blog, I had managed to miss this truely horrific news: the Care Bears are being subjected to the same treatment! (Yes, grumpy -pictured – was my favourite. And, yeah, I’ll tell the internet basically anything.)

No pictures are yet available, and the New York Times (which broke the horrific news) only has this tantalising line:

American Greetings is dusting off another of its lines, the Care Bears, which will return with a fresh look this fall (less belly fat, longer eyelashes)

That’s pretty horrific. I mean, they are the Care Bears – they’re meant to have bellies. Really, I don’t know what to say about this.

Check out the NYT piece for a disturbing list of travesties committed against your favourite ’80s excuse to sell toys – Angelina Ballerina (thinner and more human, less mousy), Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles (more muscle, less “attitude”). Notice a theme? As Andi points out:

Strawberry Shortcake is one thing, but bears and mice aren’t supposed to mimic mainstream beauty standards. Or, at least, up until now they weren’t.

(Can I just recommend people do not search for Care Bears on Flickr. Seriously.)