Thursday, March 19, 2009

Jeez what did the color pink do to you???


I'm climbing back on my soapbox right now after reading an article on Feministing.com - don't ask me how I found that site - from BBC News about the effects of pink on little girls?!?!?


Sue Palmer, author of Toxic Childhood, says the "total obsession" with pink stunts girls' personalities. "I am very worried about it. You can't find girls over the age of three who aren't obsessed with the colour. It's under their skin from a very early age and severely limits choices, and decisions.
"We have got to get something done about the effect marketeers are having. We are creating little fluffy pink princess, an image of girliness, that is very specific and which some girls don't want to go along with, but due to overwhelming peer pressure, are having to conform to."
The article goes on to overlook what I think are the important issues underlying this question. What we really need to talk about, which is demonstrated by the pink example, is how our society constantly polices gender roles. This policing starts at a young age and color preferences are just one of many examples we could use. While the article makes the point that exposure to pink itself is not going to seriously change a girl's life, what bigger differences underlie this superficial examples? We treat boys and girls differently in so many ways, many of which we don't even perceive. The cumulative effect of all these slight behavioral and social differences are what really has an impact on both genders, and continues to reinforce ideas about gender difference.

First things first - what is wrong creating a little fluffy pink princess or an image of girliness?? Oh jeez girls wear pink and boys wear blue but guess what if my little boy was like "Mom I wanna rock a pink t-shirt today!" then i'd say "That's pretty badass of you son go right ahead!". If more parents didn't make an issue about then I doubt the kids would either let's not get crazy and blame the color pink, feministing.com.



4 comments:

  1. Lol you tell em...I think parents tend to force boys to be boys and girls to be girls and sterotype them by making them wear blue and play with trucks and girls wear pink and play with dolls..I never played with dolls personally I got dirty lol and my mom hated it...you gotta let them do what they want..a color isn't going to make them any different!

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  2. Hey how do you post a video on blogs??

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  3. A bunch of hooey! One of my girls loves pink, and I love her for it. The other loves blue...and I love her for it! I think we could spend a lot more time letting kids love their favorite colors, and a lot less time researching it and all be better because of it.

    Yay pink! Yay blue! Yay every color! I vote for all of them. :)

    (And THANKS for becoming a follower on my blog. How very, very nice of you!)

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  4. Oh dear lordy how ridiculous is that...

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