Does pink really stink?
I have two young daughters and am very interested in the apparent sexualisation of young girls through media images and advertising.
My husband and I are careful about what is watched on TV, the clothes that we buy for them (No slogans like “It’s all about me” or “I’m a princess in training” etc.) and how we parent them. I read books and I talk to other parents and I can be a bit, well, paranoid.
But when it comes to the toys and colour of clothing my daughter favours, I have become less intense. We have always had a mixture of toys – dolls, cars, musical instruments, animals etc.- but at the moment, my three-year-old is very drawn to “pink toys” like Disney Princesses and My Little Pony and she loves looking after her dolls.
I’m not so worried about this but according to a British campaign called PinkStinks, by purchasing pink toys and allowing my daughter to indulge in things pink, I could be damaging her body image and self esteem.
Obviously, PinkStinks is not saying that the colour should be banned or anything extreme like that but its name is very provocative. PinkStinks says one of its aims is to “challenge the ‘culture of pink’, which is based on beauty over brains..”.
I disagree with PinkStinks’s current campaign against Early Learning Centre (UK chain of toy stores) because it offers “passive beauty-centred products and and a website where the search facility groups toys by gender…” . ELC offers many choices of toys (we shopped there often when living in London) and yes, it has “pinkified” toys that may not have needed gender specification but is it really that bad?
I have bought some pink toys because they are cute and I think my daughter will enjoy them. But I also buy her Lego and matchbox cars.
The other day I was in Kmart and all my three-year-old wanted to do was look at the make up and twist the tester lipsticks up and down. I don’t let her play with makeup at home (real or fake) but she does watch me when I put it on and wants me to pretend to put it on her.
There’s much that I like about the sentiment behind PinkStinks, especially its push to celebrate women who are inspirational in ways other than the fact they can look good, appear on reality TV or marry a sportsperson (we’ve all seen how that can backfire in recent weeks… just ask Mrs Tiger Woods!)
I loathe much of celebrity culture but I also work as a journalist and realise that celebrity has always intrigued people, including me (think of celebs like Elizabeth Taylor and scandals involving Lana Turner and Fatty Arbuckle. Newspapers covered these rabidly many, many years ago).
At my daughter’s daycare centre – a fabulous community-run place – the most popular activity for weeks with girls – and boys – was hairdressers. Parents were asked to donate empty bottles of shampoo and hair items because the children were really engaged in the role-play and creating different hairstyles.
Is it pink that really stinks or, is it worse to deny that many girls, at some stages of their lives, are going to want to “conform” to gender stereotypes and play mummies and makeup?
I would be more focused on letting kids be kids and enjoying childhood, rather than an obsession with keeping girls away from products and activities deemed “girlie”.
I’m sure that the people behind the Pink Ribbon campaign that has been raising awareness of breast cancer since 1991 don’t think the colour pink – and its feminine associations – stinks.
December 8, 2009
Posted in: Lifestyle, Parenting
7 Responses
Blush – Celebrity Mothers » Blog Archive » Does pink really stink? - December 8, 2009
[...] artofthespa wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt I don’t let her play with makeup at home (real or fake) but she does watch me when I put it on and wants me to pretend to put it on her. … I loathe much of celebrity culture but I also work as a journalist and realise that celebrity has always intrigued people, including me (think of celebs like Elizabeth T… [...]
Well, if pink really stinks, does blue smell like poo?
I have 2 young boys and my house resembles a Thomas the tank engine/cars/trucks/balls shrine.
My eldest son uses anything he finds as a sword, likes to box and has recently started to say ‘pew, pew’ whilst making gun like actions with his hands – we have NEVER played guns. So is it just inbuilt in their makeup that boys will go through these stages? Just as girls go through their ‘pink’stages? We have dolls (rarely used) and prams (used often, but mostly for carting dirt). Although I really should mention, the older one does have a bit of a facination with lipstick!
When it comes right down to it, girls are girls! We typically like the color pink. We like glittery, pretty, girlie things and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If girls and boys were meant to agree on everything, we would all be created the same.
Although I agree that children should be encouraged to be their very best selves and that girls should be taught that they can achieve the same goals that boys strive for, it’s absolutely going too far to try to mold children into the opposite gender altogether… and it’s ridiculous. Pushing girls to not like pink (when they are naturally inclined to do so) or to not be at all feminine is like telling them that there is something wrong with being a girl!
Yes, we might enjoy driving heavy equipment, working with tools and getting just as dirty as the boys; we have college degrees and higher salaries and plenty of self importance and self esteem, but we can still be feminine and think of ourselves as pretty or beautiful. We can still be girls!
Great article – very interesting!
Merry SITSmas!
this is an extremely insightful article and has made me start thinking how at times we tend to follow certain stereo typical trends in our existing society.
I think the best thing is to make your child explore all the available options (not just referring to colors but also sports, clothes, studies and occupation) and then allow them to pursue whatever it is that they are inclined towards or have an aptitude for. I think maybe this can go for pink too. If they like a toy, show them all the colors that the toy is available in and let them pick their favourite color themselves. Going by my experience children’s favourite colors tend to change a zillion times as they grow up.
i loved reading this post…wishing you a merry SITSmas!
You would not believe how long ive been googling for something like this. Went through 10 pages of Google results and couldn’t find anything. Very first page on Bing. There was this… Really have to start using it more often!
You cannot believe how long ive been searching for something like this. Through 9 pages of Google results and couldn’t find anything. First page of Bing. There this is… Really have to start using it more often!
Emily Webb » Disney Princess Complex - February 24, 2010
[...] have written previously about not worrying about gender-specific toys and I think there is a mini-hysteria from parents [...]
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