{"id":1802,"date":"2010-01-06T17:28:25","date_gmt":"2010-01-06T22:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlwpen.com\/?p=1802"},"modified":"2010-01-06T17:28:25","modified_gmt":"2010-01-06T22:28:25","slug":"beyond-pink-blue-does-pink-stink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/2010\/01\/06\/beyond-pink-blue-does-pink-stink\/","title":{"rendered":"BEYOND PINK &amp; BLUE:  Does Pink Stink?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;  Normal 0   false false false        MicrosoftInternetExplorer4  &lt;![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;   &lt;![endif]--> <span style=\"color: #5b5b5b\">A friend of mine recently introduced me to the website <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pinkstinks.co.uk\">pinkstinks.co.uk<\/a>: <span> <\/span>a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153campaign and social enterprise that challenges the culture of pink which invades every aspect of girls\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span> <\/span>Founded by two \u00e2\u20ac\u0153thirty-something\u00e2\u20ac\u009d British twin sisters, pinkstinks aims to spark public discussion and influence the media to promote positive gender roles to girls worldwide.<span> <\/span>Website co-founder Abi Moore, a London-based documentary filmmaker and mother of two sons, grew disgusted by the vapid 24\/7 media coverage of Paris Hilton and other celebrities while the achievements of brilliant female scientists and other talented women go virtually unrecognized. Determined to provide more substantive female role models for girls today, Abi teamed up with her sister Emma Moore\u00e2\u20ac\u201da publishing executive and parent of two girls\u00e2\u20ac\u201dto start the online venture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"color: #5b5b5b\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"color: #5b5b5b\">Their appealing website creatively challenges the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153culture of pink\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and its reductive, restrictive gender stereotyping.<span> <\/span>On one level, pink is just a color\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a mother struggling with whether to buy a rose-hued wardrobe for your princess-obsessed daughter, rest assured that a few pink shirts or dresses won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t keep your five-year-old out of the Ivy League down the road.<span> <\/span>On the other hand, though, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153pink\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is more than a color:<span> <\/span>it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a ubiquitous cultural symbol for a set of prevailing values and messages about what it means to be feminine, for what girls are supposed to care about:<span> <\/span>beauty, appearance, domesticity, and (before you know it) heterosexual allure.<span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"color: #5b5b5b\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"color: #5b5b5b\">According to the website, for example, more than 60% of British girls aged 7 to 10 wear lipstick and \/ or perfume, while over 40% wear eye shadow or eyeliner.<span> <\/span>Among British girls aged 15-17, <span> <\/span>73% say that when they feel bad about themselves, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s related to their looks or their weight, rather than school work or other abilities.<span> <\/span>In contrast, pinkstinks motivates girls to develop more meaningful ambitions and privilege brains over beauty.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"color: #5b5b5b\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span style=\"color: #5b5b5b\">If you visit the website, be sure to click the box labeled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153voices,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which links you to a video of two Swedish pre-teens who took on Toys-R-Us for its \u00e2\u20ac\u0153very gendered and sexist Christmas Catalogue.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span> <\/span>According to the young investigators, only 14 out of 54 pages of the catalogue portray boys and girls playing with the same toys.<span> <\/span>Their report is an inspiring example of children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s feminist activism on a global scale\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand it may prompt your own kids to question, or at least be aware of, the hidden politics of pink.<span> <\/span>You can also purchase some alternative merchandise, including a bib or t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m no Princess.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<span> <\/span>Just think of how adorable your little one might look in that!\u00c2\u00a0 And by all means feel to comment with your thoughts below:\u00c2\u00a0 does pink stink?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A friend of mine recently introduced me to the website pinkstinks.co.uk: a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153campaign and social enterprise that challenges the culture of pink which invades every aspect of girls\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Founded by two \u00e2\u20ac\u0153thirty-something\u00e2\u20ac\u009d British twin sisters, pinkstinks aims to spark public discussion and influence the media to promote positive gender roles to girls worldwide. Website [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1925,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21095],"tags":[216,2721,21395,129,4374,1528],"class_list":["post-1802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beyond-pink-and-blue","tag-beauty","tag-femininity","tag-girls","tag-media","tag-parenting","tag-sexism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/girlwpen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}