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pinkstinks
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Just heard about this from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8402628.stm
Taken from their website: www.pinkstinks.co.uk
My view is.... undecided :P
but swaying towards pinkstinks having a fair point. more about the toys designated for girls being to do with fashion, beauty and princesses/fairies rather than the actual colour pink.
Taken from their website: www.pinkstinks.co.uk
PinkStinks is a campaign and social enterprise that challenges the culture of pink which invades every aspect of girls' lives.
This site is for parents and non parents alike, and aims to gather support, promote discussion and ultimately to mobilize that support to influence marketeers and the media about the importance of promoting positive gender roles to girls.
Research tells us that self-esteem amongst girls is at its lowest ever and we are asking WHY?
We believe that body image obsession is starting younger and younger, and that the seeds are sown during the pink stage, as young girls are taught the boundaries within which they will grow up, as well as narrow and damaging messages about what it is to be a girl.
My view is.... undecided :P
but swaying towards pinkstinks having a fair point. more about the toys designated for girls being to do with fashion, beauty and princesses/fairies rather than the actual colour pink.
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Comments
The day that i saw the BATTERIES in the early learning centre came in pink and blue, i was astounded.
You even get pink lego now ffs.
Since when was it ok to force gender stereotypes so early, and what is wrong with boys and girls having gender neutral toys
There's nothing hardwired in girls that makes them like pink more - it's just from a tiny age they are surrounded with fluffy pink toys and t shirts saying "I'm a princess!" on them, which encourages them to think that's what girls should be like - silly, fluffy, vacuous.
My six year old daughter really isn't in to all that stuff, because I never dressed her in pink or encouraged her to think that being a princess was a desirable career strategy.
I tend to get a lot of her clothes from french places as theyre a lot less obsessed with pink over there
Oh yeah mine does too, how cna you avoid it? But she's not obsessed with pink, and she isn't as yet showing signs of becoming ridiculously girly in her tastes. And she's not into Barbie or Bratz and things like that yet, she mainly likes to play with lego. But who knows, maybe it will get to her eventually.
Obviously it's not the colour pink in itself which is objectionable, it's more the silly, fluffy, gender specific toys that concern me.
Tbh I'm not bothered if little girls want pink and boys blue then so be it, same if a little boy wants pink and girl want blue!
No one suggests there is anything harmful about the colour pink, in itself.
What is harmful is a culture that tells little girls that they should aspire to be princesses and footballers wives, and that being silly, vain, vacuous and empty headed is the best way to be because this is what men find attractive.
The pink thing is just one symptom of that larger trend. Girls should be pretty and passive, and focus on making themselves beautiful. That's a bad message.
I have my own anecdotal evidence of this. One year for christmas my mother bought my daughter a child's make up set, with nail varnish and eye shadow and lipstick in a plastic pink heart shaped case. She bought my little boy a plastic pretend tool set, with a hammer, screwdriver etc.
Little girls don't naturally gravitate towards pink because it's hardwired into them to like it. It's caused by wider things that are going on in the culture around them. Of course there isn't anything harmful in itself about girls liking pink, but the day someone asks my daughter what she wants to be when she grows up, and she replies "famous", a little part of me will die inside!
eta: so the point is, liking pink doesn't mean they have low self-esteem. It just means that swamping girls with pink fluffiness is the first step down the road toward making them obsessed with beauty and image above everything else, and that's bad.
for girls= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnetic-Girls-complement-National-Literacy/dp/B000CDL860/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=kids&qid=1233070281&sr=1-8
ooh and read the first review, it's so funny
for boys= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magnetic-Words-complement-National-Literacy/dp/B000CDFTHE/ref=pd_bxgy_k_h_b_cs_img_b
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
Boys like mud and dirt and scooters and footballs and bikes!
Girls like fluff and candy and flowers and jewels and sparkles.
Christ almighty, that makes me want to vomit.
The most disturbing one being - why is the word 'love' on the girls one and not the boys one? Are only girls interested in love? Are only boys interested in money?
The thing is grace, little girls don't choose shit like that. It gets bought for them, and tells them what they ought to like, and so they do, and it's a cycle. No one, and especially not children, makes their choices in a vacuum.
Is it? There's as much evidence that these things are hardwired as not. I also think that you and pinksticks are missing the point - its the duty of parents to help children fulfil their potential, pinkness and playing with dolls doesnt mean that at other times we haven't sat with my daughters and talk them to read and write and one wants to become a scientist (my wife's fault for giving her a distorted view of what scientists do). My eight year old nephew is divided between being a train driver and a footballer - perhaps we should take that football off him and drive him towards a more realistic career (I could get him a suit and tie for Christmas, together with a calculator and hope it encourages him towards accountancy)
Really? You think there might be some genetic or evolutionary explanation for girls liking pink? Fascinating, I'd love to see evidence of that.
I agree about the importance of parents encouraging their children to fulfil their potential. The thing that worries me is the wider cultural influences that pull in the opposite direction, and the fluffy pink footballer's wife model of the good life that many young girls seem to be buying into is really damaging.
I'm not denying that there are similar negative influences directed at boys. But at least they are encouraged to be footballers and to have their own identities and careers, rather than to marry someone rich and famous, or strip for playboy.
As you pointed out it's not about pink, but being attractive and stylish and the evolutionary reason is that women wanted to attract a strong mate who would be able to protect them (especially when pregnant) and their offspring.
I'm also just don't recongise this world you paint of girls being encouraged to marry someone rich and famous or strip for playboy, certainly none of the parents of children I know are encouraging them to do this, nor the schools and it's a bit of leap because girls enjoy dressing up Barbie that this stops their entire intellectual and social development or this is the only thing in their life.
I said society is in general. Our culture promotes that as one of the most valuable and successful lifestyle choices. And if you don't think that's true, you must walk around with your eyes closed.
You can point out lots of possible bits of evidence, but none of it comes together in a conclusive picture or indeed any picture at all. Given that parents and school are the most pivotal influences in a child's life it seems that they would need to actively promote it - which they don't. Nor does it seem to me does children's media. It seems a misconcieved campaign, which won't do any harm but won't make any difference and will be ignored by the vast majority of parents (including many Mums and Dads of women who go onto to become lawyers, scientists and accountants)
anyway, when toy shopping, I discovered this. Is this really appropriate?
hope this works - scientific research
There is that, but the big pink columns with streaks of white running down them were what most caught my eye.