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Original poster

Pink Stinks

158 replies

randomama · 04/12/2009 13:17

Reading about feminist books for 5 year olds in today's Guardian, it mentioned this "Pink Stinks" campaign. Which protests against the pinkification (OK, I made that word up) of girlhood.

I don't have any girls (yet) but as a girl, I LOVED pink, although my mum didn't indulge it (she was Clothkits all the way). I wanted to be Barbie or a Princess but have ended up writing a feminist PhD thesis. So in my experience a love of pink and princesses and a lifelong commitment to feminism have not been incompatible.

BUT my question is what do feminist or non feminist mothers of girls or indeed what do any of you think about the pinkification of girlhood and/or the campaign by Pink Stinks to stop it?

Cheers

OP posts:
Hulababy · 04/12/2009 17:55

Just had a quick peek at Mthercare. I looked up girl's dresses in all three age ranges - aloads of non pink, infant possible more non pink than pink items there.

mrspnut · 04/12/2009 17:59

Hula - it isn't about clothing, it's the whole generalisation.

Hulababy · 04/12/2009 18:13

I still can't get worked up about it, sorry.

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roslily · 04/12/2009 18:18

I have a ds and have found it just as annoying buying clothes for him. It is all tractors and diggers, and lots of monster and trouble t-shirt. Why do we label boys as trouble when they are so tiny and girls are princesses?

And...why is the boys clothes section always so tiny compared to the pink bit?

TheFoosa · 04/12/2009 18:53

there's loads of stuff that's not pink

I let my dd decide for herself, the pink stage has been and gone here

TheFoosa · 04/12/2009 18:55

I agree with Hula, it's meh

CitizenPrecious · 04/12/2009 19:02

It infuuuuuuuriates me

my dds (then three) went to nursery- first day- in combat trousers and came out princesses...

there's an awful lot of peer pressure to conform to the pink IME.

OrmIrian · 04/12/2009 20:12

I think it depends on the age of the child and where you can shop. It is easier when they are tiny. Once you have a pre-teen it gets harder - especially when you don't want a mini-tart for a daughter. Of course you can find non-pink clothing, but it should not be so hard. Why do you have to search, not for a style or colour, but for something that isn't a particular style and colour.

TheFoosa · 04/12/2009 20:23

Cinderella's dress is blue, Belle's dress is gold and Snow White's is red, blue and white

see, loads of choice

LittleSilver · 04/12/2009 21:02

This has always been a bugbear of mine. I am a feminist who has been blessed with 3 DDs. And the choice of clothes out there is DIRE. Unless I want pink/mauve/appliequed cutesy figures, in which case I am set up for life.

As the girls wear Dd1s clothes handed down, we have just bought gender-neutral clothes (DD2 and DD3, 2 and 6m respectively are usually assumed to be boys because not plastered in pink )

But I think a major issue here is what kind of media children are exposed to. I made the decision that I didn't want the children to watch television and I feel strongly that this has had an effect on what she (DD1)wants and doesn't want.

LittleSilver · 04/12/2009 21:03

Pink Stinks campaign rocks btw.

poshsinglemum · 04/12/2009 21:13

I think that there is too much pink but when I buy clothes I like feminine touches such as sequins, frills, flowers etc as much as more unisex clothes. There is nothing wrong with femininity - and I did a dissertation on gender stereotypes. I can't imagine a world where clothes were completely unisex all of the time. I'm a feminist who dosn't have a problem about ''femininity'' but I guess that's a topic in it's own right!

I guess there should be more choice such as primary colours.

I tend to buy dd a mixture of pretty, girly things and unisex such as jeans.

poshsinglemum · 04/12/2009 21:16

There are plenty of cool stripy girl's clothes at the moment which are more funky than princessy.

Original poster
randomama · 04/12/2009 21:43

heartofgold - it's not my fave word either tbh, it's a bit jargony. sorry. but yeah i guess i define patriarchy as a society in which men are more powerful/"masculine"

OP posts:
Original poster
randomama · 04/12/2009 21:56

sorry. itchy trigger finger. HOG - i guess (briefly) i define patriarchy as a society in which men are more (socially, economically, culturally and politically) powerful than women (like ours) and in which "masculine" qualities are valued more than "feminine" (like ours - yes it's wonderful to be a beautiful princess but the HERO is the prince with the big sword... ;))

with regards to the availability of non-pink girls clothes it's encouraging that there seems to be more choice recently but in the context of the pink stinks campaign, i think their more immediate gripe is with the limited range and palate of toys marketed at girls. they explain further here

OP posts:
Takver · 05/12/2009 13:34

I've found the whole pink/frills thing really interesting. IME it seems to be very much something that the girls I know grow out of/see through quite fast - at which point they actively reject pink, lilac etc as 'babyish'.

So for example my dd assures me that "Key Stage 2 girls don't wear skirts" (to which I must admit the answer is "if they've got both pairs of school trousers filthy in two days and last year's skirt still fits they damn well do )

flyingdolphin · 05/12/2009 14:42

Pink is just a colour, nothing more, and whatever it symbolizes I just can't get overexcited about this, a lot of girls go through a pink phase and dolly phase and come out again sane the other side. I think it is better to let them just get it out of their system.

My dd was into pink and frills when she was about 3 and 4, by 6 she has become totally grungy, and will only wear jeans and trainers for everyday. I think she is pretty typical.

purepurple · 05/12/2009 14:56

I hate all the silly pinkness that girls aspire to.
IME, they don't seem to grow out of it either. I work with a lot of young girls, 18-24ish and they are obsessed with pink. They have pink cars, pink hair straighteners, pink phones, even bloody pink screw drivers.
Not forgetting the pink xmas trees.
Being obsessed with pink is ok of you are 3, but not if you are 23.

Spacehoppa · 05/12/2009 15:06

To an extent pink does tend to go with other shades of pink. Blue goes with most other shades of blue.

So it makes it really easy both to economise and for random members of the public to guess correctly the sex of your child.

However it is only fair to point out the existance of other options...

OrmIrian · 05/12/2009 20:16

Agree with purepurple - it doesn't always pass and it's the pinkness at older ages that does the damage.

sprogger · 05/12/2009 20:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

nellie12 · 05/12/2009 21:00

I have boys but I if I had a girl pinkification would annoy me immensely. It is irritating as it is trying to find clothes for bouys that aren't so gender orientated.

I had ds3 dressed in a cream snowsuit the other day and someone commented that I had 2 boys and a princess. I'm not sure what annoyed me most. the assumption that a baby in cream has got to be a girl or that a girl equals a princess.

That implies that girls are there to be spoiled and pampered. I dont want my boys growing up thinking that girls are incapable of doing the same things as them or are not equal. That message too is very damaging and worrying for future relationships. (very future relationships obviously )

flyingdolphin · 06/12/2009 11:45

Purepurple, I so agree - pink at age 23 is truly nauseating, I agree. Not sure whether this sort of campaign is going to help cure that sub-category of their pinkness though.

I always imagined it was more to do with role models and attitudes towards real life rather than toys or clothes - things like whether they see mummy actually doing the things that they could assume they need help for. E.g., 'oh dear, the car is broken again, daddy had better sort it out with the garage...' sort of scenario - why can't mummy sort it out with the garage herself fgs?

On a slightly different topic - the fairy tale I really find disturbing is 'The Princess and the Pea', I mean, what is a child supposed to make of that?

FlightofFancy · 07/12/2009 16:51

I'm another big fan of Pink Stinks - pg with my first (and no idea whether it's 'pink' or 'blue' variety) I'm stunned by how gendered everything is. I don't want to dress a baby completely in white and cream (such practical colours for washing out sick and poo...) and I don't want everything to be pink or blue. I've spent a very entertaining few weeks looking for clothes and blankets etc in bright colours. Bought some great green/brown bodysuits in Sainsburys, some with little woodland creatures on - woman at the till says 'oooh, how lovely, so you're having a little boy then'... groan.

BlueberryPancake · 07/12/2009 17:15

I feel quite bad now because I just came back from the supermarket and my 4 year old son wanted me to buy him some Dora girl knickers. I would have bought them if they wouldn't have been pink, but I just can't put my little boy in pink dora knickers! Purple, yes, green, yellow, red, but not pink!! Maybe I'm part of the conspiracy as well...