Attention Disney fans! You may now create male fairies in Pixie Hollow, the online gaming/social networking site hitherto occupied only by Tinkerbell and female cronies. I went to sign up to check it out, but am apparently already an 'existing fairy!' Nope, no recollection at all! Here's Salon on how the kids forced the company's hand:
Children are pretty resourceful little gender warriors. The open secret around the Hollow has long been that if you make your fairy tall, with short hair, and give her an ambiguous name like Jamie, she can pretty quickly establish a reputation as a he. Hey, Mom and Dad, we've got your rigid gender roles right here.
Nonetheless, Disney appears to have taken some measures to prevent the most obviously interesting forms of thoughtcrime. For example, male fairies aren't called fairies, but "Sparrow Men."
