Pink question

[Cabra West]

'Tis the season .... the season where people like me, more or less grown up these days but without offspring of my own, have to venture forth into various toy shops to find gifts for the little ones our friends and family have produced.

And while I usually find that highly annoying in itself, this year the pinkness in the girls' sections really, really got on my nerves. Maybe it was my innner feminist, or maybe it was my inner grinch, but I just hated this gender-separation. And when I walked into the boys' section, was I greeted with blue in all its blueness? No. Colours in abundance for the little lads,

So now I'm wondering. What is the pink doing?
Is it, as some schools of thought would have it, limiting girls? Is it reducing their choices to anything to do with beauty, dresses, dolls and unicorns? I somehow doubt that.
Yes, most girls love pink. But does that mean they'd reject a toy for being of a different colour? Not likely.
Most girls would have no problem going into the boys' sections and finding something there that they like.

What the pink is really doing, in my opinion, is making sure the boys stay away from toys that society decided are "girls only". The colour is a boy-repelent.
It's not there to make sure girls stick to their gender roles, it's there to make sure the boys don't stray.
And that's annoying me even more.
We've spent decades trying to achieve gender equality, but we're forgetting about equality for boys. Girls are encouraged to take part in activities which previously would have been a boy's domain, but the boys are still stuck in the same old roles.

It's a disgrace, and it needs to stop.
Any suggestions on how we can get boys to step into the forbidden worlds of the pink toys?

[Laerod]

Paint everything black.

[Cabra West]

Paint everything black.

I've got a feeling Toys "R" Us is going to take legal action if I show up with a spray can, but I'll give it a go.

[Fortschritte]

I think pink as a "girls only" color is a silly societal construct we've grown to embrace. Personally, I'm not a fan of the color, as the look of it simply doesn't appeal to me, but that's not because I find it to be "un-masculine" or "overly feminine."

[The Grim Reaper]

We could just recognize pink is a terrible colour and stop trying to foist it upon anybody.

[Big Jim P]

Paint everything black.

Works for me.

[Ethel mermania]

I like pink

[Big Jim P]

I like pink

You poor, poor man.

[Ethel mermania]

I like pink

You poor, poor man.

It's a lovely color. I look good in it. Well I look good in any color, but I digress.

[Big Jim P]

You poor, poor man.

It's a lovely color. I look good in it. Well I look good in any color, but I digress.

I have only worn pink once (and ex bought me a pink shirt). Like you I look good in any color, but I look best in black.

[Risottia]

And when I walked into the boys' section, was I greeted with blue in all its blueness? No.

Wtf. No TARDISes for the boys?

Anyway, yes, we (or at least most of us) have been taught that a boy liking pink is a weirdo - and that girls liking boys' stuff are ok but boys liking girls' stuff is bad, so pink is effectively a boy repellent.

I don't see what's the point in it. It's a sort of heteronormativeness, but for boys only.

[Cabra West]

Wtf. No TARDISes for the boys?

Anyway, yes, we (or at least most of us) have been taught that a boy liking pink is a weirdo - and that girls liking boys' stuff are ok but boys liking girls' stuff is bad, so pink is effectively a boy repellent.

I don't see what's the point in it. It's a sort of heteronormativeness, but for boys only.

Haven't noticed any, no

I remember my younger brother playing with one of my dolls when we were little, and inexplicably that made my father mad at my mother.
Never really understood that. I think there is a lot society and individuals still need to work on when it comes to allowing boys to be who they want to be.

[Dumb Ideologies]

It's an interesting question, this. There's a pretty big taboo on "boys doing girls stuff". I grew up in the kind of broadly progressive household where choosing a pink unicorn to fight a dinosaur went more or less unquestioned (and look what good it did me! jk). The problem lies with the differential value placed on masculinity and femininity. Getting girls to do "boy things" was in some way "aspirational" and relatively easy to motivate parents around, compared to getting boys to "devalue" themselves by doing trivial "girl things".

The big question is who would fight the fight? Boys have never been feminists' major priority, and MRAs are frequently very traditional in their view of "proper" roles and advocacy of heteronormativity.

[Never Whatever]

pink is lovely

[Cabra West]

It's an interesting question, this. There's a pretty big taboo on "boys doing girls stuff". I grew up in the kind of broadly progressive household where choosing a pink unicorn to fight a dinosaur went more or less unquestioned (and look what good it did me! jk). The problem lies with the differential value placed on masculinity and femininity. Getting girls to do "boy things" was in some way "aspirational" and relatively easy to motivate parents around, compared to getting boys to "devalue" themselves by doing trivial "girl things".

The big question is who would fight the fight? Boys have never been feminists' major priority, and MRAs are frequently very traditional in their view of "proper" roles and advocacy of heteronormativity.

Good question.

Personally, the feminist inside me is what's making me so annoyed about this. I never saw that as being about women only, but about true and honest equality.
And I think for that to happen, this negative connotation of the word "girlish" just has to stop. I feel that to achieve an equal society, girls must be allowed to be boyish and boys must be allowed to be girlish. Neither should be regarded as "lower" than the other.

[Tubbsalot]

Oog, careful. You're inviting people to complain about how feminism is shit and men are super persecuted.

Any suggestions on how we can get boys to step into the forbidden worlds of the pink toys?

Male gender roles have tended to be much more resilient than their female equivalents. Even so, I'm pretty certain it is changing. I mean, it is totally possible for a guy to pull off wearing pink or purple, which is an improvement over a few decades ago. These sorts of things take time, inevitably. (I'd also note Europe seems to be making much faster progress there than America.)

[Dumb Ideologies]

It's an interesting question, this. There's a pretty big taboo on "boys doing girls stuff". I grew up in the kind of broadly progressive household where choosing a pink unicorn to fight a dinosaur went more or less unquestioned (and look what good it did me! jk). The problem lies with the differential value placed on masculinity and femininity. Getting girls to do "boy things" was in some way "aspirational" and relatively easy to motivate parents around, compared to getting boys to "devalue" themselves by doing trivial "girl things".

The big question is who would fight the fight? Boys have never been feminists' major priority, and MRAs are frequently very traditional in their view of "proper" roles and advocacy of heteronormativity.

Good question.

Personally, the feminist inside me is what's making me so annoyed about this. I never saw that as being about women only, but about true and honest equality.
And I think for that to happen, this negative connotation of the word "girlish" just has to stop. I feel that to achieve an equal society, girls must be allowed to be boyish and boys must be allowed to be girlish. Neither should be regarded as "lower" than the other.

Well, ideologically that makes sense, and I wouldn't dispute a word. The problem is that feminism has largely been a movement by and for women. The composition of any group does create some biases in what they'll be interested in. I may be wrong, but I don't forsee the constraints of masculinity becoming a major focus of feminist activism, regardless of a "paper" ideological acknowledgment that this isn't the way things should be.

[Snowfall the Unicorn]

*ahem*

Whats wrong with boys liking unicorns?

[Ripoll]

Pink Polos, chino shorts, boat shoes, cashmere, are all accepted by men's fashion and not looked down upon at all. Colors aren't a gender separation, fabrics and styles are.

I do think there is a cultural separation of femininity and masculinity to be maintained however. It just simply isn't in colors and there's no real evidence to support that there is one.

[Herrebrugh]

It's a lovely color. I look good in it. Well I look good in any color, but I digress.

I have only worn pink once (and ex bought me a pink shirt). Like you I look good in any color, but I look best in black.

I do quite like black...

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Well, wearing pink is certainly not taboo anymore with the fashion advent of pink shirts (and how nice they look).

However, interesting topic and I do agree with DI on her points.

[Ifreann]

But if we let boys near the pink things they'll all contract teh ghey!

[Wombocombo]

I feel like I would 'like' pink more if I was raised different.
I have a pink phone case, but it is ironic, because 'WHATK IND OF DUH BOY WOULD HAVE ONEE!@#!@#!@#!" And it is a bit funny because it is bright neon.

We should probably work on making colors gender neutral.

[Risottia]

I think that to make pink more gender-neutral we could start selling beer in pink cans. Nothing says "manly" like beer.

[Ifreann]

I think that to make pink more gender-neutral we could start selling beer in pink cans. Nothing says "manly" like beer.

Pink meat *nods*