Oh for fuck's sake.

[Rapscallion]

I looked into archery clubs recently. Plenty around. Crossbows are - I think - frowned upon by the forces of law and order, since they can be pretty effective and are relatively easy to use, but bows at clubs are fine.

Not sure about out of clubs, mind...

Rapscallion

[violiav]

This is why I love my daughter (aside from the fact that she's my daughter). She has no preconceived notions about gender roles. Not because I've tried to do that, Or that she favors a style over another , because she's somewhere in between. Hell, she gets as excited for superhero movies (she likes action movies) as much as for Monster High. When I ask her why she likes something or doesn't she never gives me a gender influenced reason.

[Tanasi]

Your going to love this. Having worked now 5 seasons at VA Renaissance festival as the Range Safety Officer at the archery range I have seen more girls that can pull back a 30lb long bow then boys. The younger girls, between 8-16, are more capable of pulling back the weight then the boys. The girls are still dealing with the social issue of this being a weapon and thus a boys/mans tool as they do with a lot of sports. They have to have the muscle and ease of ability in order to show off they can do it.

The boys are ridding on the fact that their boys. Its automatically assumed by their parents that they can pull that weight and perform accurately to aim. To put it simply - they cant. I can almost tell by looking if a boy is going to be able to pull it. Far to many of them are turning to fat.

A few points to let you know. Hunting weight is defined by state. It does not require 90lbs in most states for you to go hunting, it’s a lot lower than you think. If I’m remembering the highest state required is 40lbs. MD requires a minimum of 30lbs - so yes the bows I’m teaching kids and adults are hunting acceptable for deer.

The whole higher poundage is due to the mechanical advantage that a compound bow gives you along with the acceleration and making it easier for the arrow to penetrate due to less drag. An English longbow does not give you that mechanical advantage that lessens how much you are pulling back. So for a 90lbs compund you could be pulling 30-45lbs due to the mechanical advantage, but release at 90lbs pull and higher acceleration.


As for the dolls. Heck I want both. The Brave Archery set is laughable though. A kid would have to be really lucky in order to cause any real damage, and I could see the toy breaking in less than a day. Still would be a good tool to teach proper handling technique to a child.

For the sake of being curious recurved or long???

[EricKei]

I was trying to think of why just that one would be focused on, and this is all I could come up with...Note that I do NOT really agree with this line of reasoning, I'm just hypothesizing that this is what the complainers are thinking:

Hunger Games features real life people, hence, someone kids might be more likely to emulate. After all, this is a (semi) "grown up" doing this, a strong young woman, making it cool and something to aim for (er, no pun intended).

Brave and the like, on the other hand, are cartoons, and therefore, just silly fiction that nobody would take seriously nor emulate.

Thoughts?

[violiav]

Eh? It's ok to be a relationshiply challenged pop star but not a hero of the people?