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Thursday 28 January 2010

The Consequences of Pink

I have never been much of a "girly". Okay, so I do like a night out in a posh frock occasionally, but on a daily basis I tend toward pragmatic, not fashion or even attractive. It's true that I would like to feel more comfortable in feminine attire, but I don't and it's not exactly suitable for walking the dog anyway. Make-up only comes out on rare occasions. Boy babies somehow seemed more likely to fit in with this and the girly part of toy shops would leave me feeling either disinterested, appalled or with a feeling of dread.
Along came Isla.

Then came the bouquets of pink flowers.
And the pink cards.
And the pink clothes.
Oh dear...
I thought we were meant to moving away from gender stereotyping. It appears not when you are under five. Not when you can be marketted to!

It has occured to me over the past weeks that there are various consequences of having a "pink" baby. Some I may bring myself to comes to terms with; some I can imagine becoming potential sources of tension and some will be non-negotiable, at least for now.

Hair slides
Bows and other accessories.
Piercings
French plaits and other time-consuming hair styles
Make-up
High heeled shoes
Boyfriends
Nail polish
Crop tops
Dollies
"I'm not going climbing - I could break a finger nail...!"
Fairies and Princesses and other areas of Disney marketting
Boy bands
"Tweenager" marketting
The whole "Boys are little terrors and girls are little angels" thing.

And so on.

This got me looking around and I found a website called Pink Stinks. Well said.

1 comment:

The Gutsy Mom said...

As a totally pink-i-fied family, I can relate! While we fully embrace hair accessories (so as to keep hair out of eyes) and dolls, I am SO not ready for tweenager issues, make-up, nail polish, etc.

We DO discuss and support several sources of fairy and princess products (though not a lot of Disney), but I am pleased that Jillson is just as likely to pretend to be a dinosaur or robot as she is to pretened to be a princess or fairy. Her favorite color, thank God, is purple.

We read "The Paper Bag Princess" on a regular basis to combat prevalent "I'm a girl and must be saved by a man" myths.

But I do feel as if we are fighting and possibly losing a slow battle against all things pink. I try not to seek out pink, but if it comes our way, I try to accept it.

My friend, Gay, a girly-girl and expert climber, climbs with lipstick on, because it doesn't get in the way of climbing. She does not get manicures. :)

There are ways to think outside (and inside) the pink box!