Upsides and Downsides

Subject: Upsides and Downsides Sat Sep 20, 2014 11:07 pm

One thing I always loved about the Winx Club was the setting.

I LOVE the idea that different types of Faeries come from different planets, it opens up a lot of possibility in the writing, and more chance for variety among the different characters cultures.
I love the idea that, witches and faeries are possibly the same race, andyou become one or the other based on your morality or personality.

But the selling point for me was the gender roles presented, especially in the first two seasons. In most girls media, we see all the main characters usually very feminine, with more or less the same values, and they always get along without conflict (or if there is conflict, it is caused by an outside source).
Winx club features a feminine but not quite 'girly' protagonist in Bloom, who wears flats and jeans and doesn't seem to wear makeup. We have Musa, who is a tomboy, and a fem-butch in Techna, who has short hair and usually wears pants. Aisha also starts off more athletic looking, I seem to recall she usually wears pants and her intro outfit looked like a hiker.
That makes four of the six of the main characters, not so girly, in a very girly show, which I quite liked.

What I very much disliked, was the gender split in the show.

Why are the male characters all set into one, uber macho, military-esque school? Why do we see no male characters at Alfea or Cloud Tower, despite how we see Male Teachers at Alfea? Why no female students at Red Fountain?
I'd have rather the show give a gender-split at all three schools.

What do you guys think?