Pink question

[-Ebola-]

*ahem*

Whats wrong with boys liking unicorns?

Because unicorns have a habit of tricking their friend Charlie and stealing his kidney. Not cool man.

What's wrong with tricking your friends and stealing their kidneys?

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

I like pink

I like pink in certain things, like my phone. I don't think it's a girl color alone, men can rock pink too.

I don't think the color's the problem, but societal attitudes associated with it are. What we need to do is work in destroying the negatives. Colors are for everyone, regardless of sex or gender.

[Communist Winnipeg]

I don't see anything wrong with pink. I am, generally, against stealing peoples organs.

[-Ebola-]

I don't see anything wrong with pink. I am, generally, against stealing peoples organs.

You're obviously not a virus or a unicorn. If you were a virus or a unicorn you would understand.

[Degenerate Heart of HetRio]

I don't see anything wrong with pink. I am, generally, against stealing peoples organs.

You're obviously not a virus or a unicorn. If you were a virus or a unicorn you would understand.

Your life depends on stealing people's things. Our life depends on not having stuff being stolen from us.

Even the most ethical of our kind are still really comparable to big plant viruses, though, so I think you have a point again, Ebola.

[Kilobugya]

What's funny is that in the middle ages, pink was a boy color - red (for blood) was the color associated with knights and war, and pink as a "softer red" was the color associated with boys. It's just all cultural.

[Degenerate Heart of HetRio]

What's funny is that in the middle ages, pink was a boy color - red (for blood) was the color associated with knights and war, and pink as a "softer red" was the color associated with boys. It's just all cultural.

Yep.

I've always wondered why society has chosen pink as the color of girls. I mean seriously, what is so inherently feminine about pink?

In the Middle Ages, blue was the girls' color, associated with the purity of Mary, and pink was boys', associated with energy and vigor.

I have no idea why the swap happened, but in most European languages, the literal translation of the noun used for the color pink is "rose", so there's that. The association of romance and flowers with women is not a very rare one, eh?

[Jute]

What's funny is that in the middle ages, pink was a boy color - red (for blood) was the color associated with knights and war, and pink as a "softer red" was the color associated with boys. It's just all cultural.

Yep.

In the Middle Ages, blue was the girls' color, associated with the purity of Mary, and pink was boys', associated with energy and vigor.

I have no idea why the swap happened, but in most European languages, the literal translation of the noun used for the color pink is "rose", so there's that. The association of romance and flowers with women is not a very rare one, eh?

It happened in the beginning of the 20th century, and I think the retail industry is to blame for it, I remember reading it somewhere.

I don't see anything wrong with pink. I am, generally, against stealing peoples organs.

You're obviously not a virus or a unicorn. If you were a virus or a unicorn you would understand.

A unicorn would understand what's wrong with pink?

[Cetacea]

I agree that gender strictures are tighter on males than they are on females and while the concept that "Girls can do anything" is awesome, it has not been liberating for males as well and the divide between Macho and Sissy Male still exists.

Sissy Man is of course fully legitimate and indeed the acceptability of Drag fashion as a social phenomena evidences this, yet boys are still required to choose one or the other and to be defined by such. Then of course there is the strange persistance of aged notions of Chivalry like males still being expected to "offer the ladies a chair", to "carry her bags" and even "pay for the date" - why does equality only work one direction?

Of course this doesn't apply to all females, some make a point of paying their own way and "opening their own doors", but the actions of a person do not mean that societal expectations have changed with them.

Boys must choose their 'gendered' identity whereas girls are free to choose anything they want to be
(although, perhaps the the Female divide is one of Whore vs Maiden rather than Man vs Un-Man)

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Yep.

It happened in the beginning of the 20th century, and I think the retail industry is to blame for it, I remember reading it somewhere.

You're obviously not a virus or a unicorn. If you were a virus or a unicorn you would understand.

A unicorn would understand what's wrong with pink?

This alludes to that a little bit. The writer speaks of the change happening post war in the 20th century.

[-Ebola-]

Yep.

It happened in the beginning of the 20th century, and I think the retail industry is to blame for it, I remember reading it somewhere.

You're obviously not a virus or a unicorn. If you were a virus or a unicorn you would understand.

A unicorn would understand what's wrong with pink?

I doubt it. Nothing is wrong with pink. I meant it would understand about stealing organs.

[Imyoji]

Pink is fine. I like it. But of it's pink ice cream, then it usually indicates too much fruit, and too much fruit (unless it's a Sundae) in ice cream deters me like garlic to a vampire.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Pink is alright, got no issues with it and dont see why it has to be a gender specific colour, that seems silly imo.

Though i prefer Red, its a much better colour.

[AiliailiA]

Boys like guns. Make the toy guns pink.

Of course, boys will prefer a black gun to a pink gun. But you can explain it to them. They're less likely to be shot with a real gun if they're waving around a toy gun which is pink.

[Shilya]

Turns out stores don't care about feminism, or gender roles, or even what kids like. They care about sales, and that means there's something critical you didn't notice: The child doesn't buy the toy, the parent (or other older relative) does.

Pink isn't color coding for children, girls may like pink and boys may not like it, but ultimately they don't care all that much. But the parents want - not need, but want - a toy that is "appropriate" for their child, and the store obliges and gives them their color coding. Parents have a social setting too, and no one wants to be shunned for giving their boy "girls toys", or vice versa.

That it's pink is arbitrary, used to be inverted, but parents, not stores or children, want something to go by, some sort of "guarantee" that the toy will be fine for their child, that the selection won't reflect negatively on them. If you want to change that, change parents, not stores, because stores would only invent a new marker, they give you what you want, not what you need (points for getting the obscure reference may be redeemed in antarctica, research station 5). Boys then may think pink is fine (again), but parents will still show their child that this toy is for boys and this is for girls. That in turn passes into the social setting of the child, so long as the majority of parents practices the separation - this for girls, this for boys - the children will separate in turn as well ("what are you, a girl?").

In summary, it's not pink that's repelling boys from "girls" toys (and vice versa), it's parents.

[AiliailiA]

I don't look good in pink. Though I have 'white' skin, it's variegated: tanned more in some places than others, with blotches and moles, wrinkles, scars and other signs of passing time. Pink (or other pale skinlike colors like pale yellow or actual white) accentuate the irregularities in my hide.

My skin isn't so badly aged that I have to resort to wearing black though. I think I look best in green or grey. By contrast my skin appears a healthy pink.

[Risottia]

I mean, the girl aisle is filled with nothing but dolls and plushies.

But plushies are fun!

Ok, not as fun as a Dalek Desktop Protector, but still... anyway, a DDP counts as a doll. Sort of. Ok, "action figure".

[AiliailiA]

they give you want you want, not what you need (points for getting the obscure reference may be redeemed in antarctica, research station 5)

The phrase "want you want" isn't grammatical, so I'm guessing it's from some bootleg recording of the Stones.

[Shilya]

they give you want you want, not what you need (points for getting the obscure reference may be redeemed in antarctica, research station 5)

The phrase "want you want" isn't grammatical, so I'm guessing it's from some bootleg recording of the Stones.

No, it's a typo. Fixed, and thanks.

[Imperializt Russia]

Boys like guns. Make the toy guns pink.

Of course, boys will prefer a black gun to a pink gun. But you can explain it to them. They're less likely to be shot with a real gun if they're waving around a toy gun which is pink.

There is literally nothing not to love in this image.

[Salus Maior]

*Shrug* A lot of girls like pink. And anyway, nothing's stopping anyone from buying toys from any particular section for their kids.

[Ashmoria]

'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?

oh

you know I didn't think of it that way. im not sure that it is conscious but it is pretty true that most boys stay away from "girl stuff".

the biggest impediment to boys playing with girl toys is the adults around them and their fear that liking pink or wanting a doll makes a boy gay.

and I would like to solve the problem by having manufacturers ditch the all pink motif. it gets on my nerves too.