Yesterday on All Things Considered I heard this story, "Why do Girls Love Horses, Unicorns, and Dolphins?" (You can follow the link to read a text version, or listen to the story as it aired). I went through a "horse phase," as did so many other girls that I know. I had a cousin who loved all things dolphin. And unicorns... well, I'm still not out of my unicorn phase, and I don't know if I ever will be. I had not, however, thought of these animals as a connected group. But this story made me reconsider that. As the experts posited their opinions, I tried to see if I could come up with my own ideas about why girls love these animals. And I think I know why. I think I know why. The problem is that I can't really articulate it. When I think about that grouping of animals, and how I feel about them, I can feel what it is that attracts the hearts nd minds of young females. I can feel it, but I don't know if I can explain it. So before I try, why don't you have a crack at it.
If you're a girl:
- does this trio ring some bells for you? Do you remember loving them, or do you now? Can you articulate this better?
And if you're male:
- have you observed girls' love affairs with these animals? Are you confused about it? Do you have any theories?
One final observation: I think that some girls are seriously gypped in their love of unicorns by inferior ideas about what a unicorn is. They all need to read something like "The Last Unicorn" .
*Picture By Yamavu [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons
Hmmmm. Interesting article. But I'm afraid I can't relate.
ReplyDelete--Horses scared me
--Unicorns never fascinated me
--I had a Lisa Frank folder with a dolphin on it. And later on a dolphin air freshener. No love affair with either of them...although I think I still have them both. Maybe it was suppressed.
No, I loved cats. All things cats. Cat posters, cat figurines, stuffed cats...then, the long-awaited day arrive when I got a real cat. It ran away. I got another cat -- she was terribly ugly and had a wierd scar on her face and only breathed out of one side of her nose, but I loved her. She had a kitten and I loved it even more. But somehow it got out of its cat-house and froze to death. I felt so bad for the mother I gave her away so that she could live in a warm barn. And that was the end of my love affair with cats. No doubt the experts could explain something about that as well......?? ;)
I went through a long horse stage, but distinctly remember thinking the dolphin boarder on my friends wall was silly. Unicorns did not morph into stage until two years ago.
ReplyDeleteI do get a similar "feeling", but no clear "ah that's it", I'm afraid.
I too loved horses when I was younger, I suppose because they were free and wild and strong and fast and noble and loyal and beautiful. More analysis than that I won't do. :)
ReplyDelete