All the PINK!!!
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Anonymous
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Look, I’m a professional woman who loves the color pink but does every toy geared toward girls have to be pink!
DD is 14 months and all the toys are pink. The baby in the bathtub and the bathtub is pink ( why?! Bathtubs haven’t been pink since the 1950s). Doll Strollers are pink even though I have never seen a parents pushing a pink stroller. Older DS has a ride-on car that’s yellow and green and we looked to get the exact car in a different color for DD and the only other option was pink. Why is everything pink?!! And don’t get me started on her clothes... |
Anonymous
| I know. It’s ridiculous. |
Anonymous
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It's annoying but this quickly reverses course. Baby girls get inundated with pink, yes. And it seems like boys get a more normal variety of colors as babies.
But in a couple years, people get real weird about colors and gender preference with boys, and things open up for girls. My 4 yr old loves pink (she's in a serious pink phase right now, all driven by her!) but she's actually an outlier in her peer group. You see a group of 4 and 5 year old girls and it's a little rainbow -- plenty of pink and purple, but also LOTS of yellows and greens and blues and rainbows, some hipsters in black and gray, lots of silver and gold sparkles. Same with their backpacks and bikes and toys. Just a ton of variety. The message for girls right now is that the world is your oyster. You can love unicorns and trucks. You can take ballet and do soccer and go to a STEM camp. Etc. Girls can do anything. And then you'll see the boys and it will make you a little sad. Even in my uber progressive, liberal, LGBTQ+ friendly neighborhood, the boys are almost universally in blue, black, red, gray, and other muted colors. Very little in the way of bright. Pink and purple are absolute no gos ("girl colors!") but even things like bright yellow and green, or something in multiple colors -- you just don't see it a lot. I don't have a boy so I don't know if this is driven by the kids, the parents (and if so which parents), or they are just soaking up cultural cues. But it's kind of sad, honestly. And I think this is one reason that you see boys with less interest in art, for instance, which sucks because art is an amazing outlet for kids who may not have the language skills or emotional regulation to express themselves in other ways. So yeah, the pink baby stuff is silly, but this issue I think hurts boys way more. I'm relieved my kid can wear a pink tutu any day she wants, and also blue overalls, and feels comfortable doing so. I don't think boys are getting the message that's okay at all. And yes, it's misogyny (feminine=inferior and masculine=superior, so girls are encouraged to embrace stereotypical boy things but the reverse is not true) but it's a prime example of how misogyny and toxic masculinity hurts men and boys too. |
Anonymous
| You don’t have to buy the pink stuff. Primary.com has all colors. You can buy the blue toys. |
Anonymous
| Eh. It doesn’t really matter long term. I was super anti-pink and made DD wear primary colors and a lot of boy clothes as a toddler. She’s 5 now and ended up the girliest girl I’ve ever seen, everything is pink, glitter, rainbow, unicorn, princess, etc. Realized it’s not a battle worth fighting, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the color pink and it’s actually kind of sad how much we shun “girl” things and consider them inferior to “boy” things. And DD may wear a frilly pink dress everyday, but she also does MMA and jiu jitsu and can beat up the boys in her class, so…..🤷♀️ |
Anonymous
| Yeah, I don’t get it. Strollers and bathtubs aren’t pink. Very few pink cars on the road too. DS wanted a washer and dryer and we had to search high and low for one that wasn’t pink. Like anyone in the real world has a pink washer and dryer!! |
Anonymous
| I actually love the color pink. But I resent like hell the fact that toy manufacturers seem to push outdated traditional gender roles on our kids. Pink is the official girl color so strollers, kitchens, baby bath, etc. should be pink. DH doesn’t push our son in a pink stroller but all the toy strollers were pink. |
Anonymous
| It’s a fricking pink flood after you have a baby girl, it’s true. Having pink toys is even more ludicrous! |
Anonymous
| Just buy boy stuff - fortunately you have a boy to hand stuff down from! It does get better when they become preschoolers - there are for more color options for clothing, decorating, toys, etc... |
Anonymous
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It is a deliberate strategy by manufacturers to get you to buy more stuff. If everything has a "boy" version and a "girl" version, consumers will often buy a new or additional one in the right color instead of reusing what they have or accepting a hand-me-down. It's especially prominent in toys.
Peggy Orenstein wrote about it in her book Cinderella Ate My Daughter. It's a great read. I highly recommend it. |
Anonymous
| I actually find the pink stuff hasn’t started at 15m. Almost no pink clothes, and her toys are all primary colors. Idk, maybe we’re not shopping for the same stuff. |
Anonymous
Same, exactly. I was anti-pink and wound up with a girl who loves pink. Turns out it's fine. It's just a color. Also, by the way OP -- they make pink strollers. People don't buy them in part because men wouldn't want to push them! But if you go to a daycare, guess what? You'll see the little boys pushing around those little pink toy strollers because they don't even make them in "boy" colors. There are layers upon layers of misogyny in the world and they don't cut precisely the way you think. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
+1. Definite marketing tool. By about eight-years-old, a boy won’t ride his sister’s old bike because it’s pink so you have to buy another. Same with clothes. |
Anonymous
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Hope it's just not a gaudy pink!
This is such a good rant because its so true. I was wondering if you have come across any other problems? Or if you are willing to share more about your experiences to help other parents in a 25 minute focus group? It is running until 18th January 2022 with a prize draw for £100. The idea is we hear what problems parents have and also if they have overcome this problem/struggle so you can potentially help/share with others. Anyone else who can make this would be much appreciated! TIA, Stella |