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Monday 20 October 2014

#Microblog Mondays: The tyranny of pink

Okay,  okay world, I get it; I have seen the error of my ways. My daughter doesn't wear nearly enough pink or frills or dresses. Because (gasp!) without those aids, she might not understand her prescribed social role. <Aaahhh!! Gender confusion!!>

It's not that I oppose pink per se. I probably even own a few rose tinted garments myself.

But I guess, since long before Girl Wonder made her appearance, I've been a strenuous opponent of the tyranny that is the pink-and-blue-dichotomy. (And since first finding out she is a she, I confess I have lived in fear of facing the moment of the Disney Princess Effect.) Because, well...shouldn't we all resist this? Shouldn't I raise my daughter with an appreciation for the possible fluidity of identities and the empowerment that can arise from that? Shouldn't she have the opportunity to develop her own sense of femininity, or to discard that notion altogether if she sees fit? And just as importantly, isn't this pink-or-blue, pastel-tinged universe just a tad... creepy boring??

I guess it's fair to say we were always going to be subscribers to the Riley school of childrearing as it pertains to gender ascription. Too bad not all gift givers can be like Riley though.

For now I just have to figure out what to do with all these frills, because it feels like a nursing home somewhere may be missing its lampshades.


 





 Written as part of Mel's Microblog Mondays. Check it out here to participate.

10 comments:

  1. Baby girl's wardrobe is not overly frilly/girly either. For a long time, everyone assumed she was a boy because of this. The other day, I went to buy her some bigger socks, and the only options were pink and flowery or the pack that literally said BOYS RULE. Gah!! Needless to say, I did not purchase socks that day.

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  2. This reminds me of being very young and squirming out of the dresses my mother attempted to put in me :) I don't remember if they were pink, but they were frilly!

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  3. I get asked if my girls are boys all the time because I *gasp* don't dress them in pink every day. One woman asked once, I corrected her with a chuckle, and she told me it was my "fault" because my daughter was wearing blue. Mmm'kay. It drives me a little batty, this stringent need to label babies and kids. I get it with my son too, but to a little bit of a lesser extent since he favors the "boyish" things.

    I actually wonder where the whole pink/princess thing originated from. I remember when I was a little girl I loved The Little Mermaid- but it wasn't because she was a princess... no, it was because she was a mermaid, and I wanted to be a mermaid lol.

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  4. I don't care for the pink or blue thing either. Although I care less about it now than I used to, because it seems like there are more important things to care about :-) The baby clothes I like the best (in whatever colour) are the soft ones, because in my mind babies are cuddly. :-) Dresses and frills don't appeal because they look like they would just get the way, especially when baby starts to move around and crawl. As for the whole princess thing, I can't stand it and don't plan on encouraging it at all.

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  5. I once knit my husband's coworker's baby girl a blue dress with a white bow. The amount of crap I got from a lot of people for that one was enormous, but the mother really was happy to have something that didn't look like it had been dyed with Pepto-Bismol.

    I'm conscious about how I dress both my kids. Ironically, I struggle with this more with my son than my daughter, as almost all boys clothes are blue.

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  6. I HATE the color pink and try to dress my daughter in anything but pink. However, we are working with mainly hand-me-downs so I can't be too picky. I also won't encourage princesses. I was a total tomboy when I was younger and I hope my daughter will be the same way!

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  7. We did a lot of shopping at LL Bean (no frills). Chickie gravitates towards all black (er...) or stripey whimsical pieces. She either looks like she's out of Zoom or is a beat poet. She did go through a princess phase but came out of it. We try not to comment on anything; if she's going to pick up her cues from us, we're going to make those cues really really difficult to figure out.

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  8. Ahh don't worry about it..She'll understand that pink and blue and all the frills are not really flags for being feminine ...

    Random Thoughts Naba..#MicroblogMondays : On Last Name & Books Read...

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  9. I don't have anything against pink either, but I hate that it seems to be the only color people want little girls to wear. Thanks to hand me downs, they do wear plenty of it, but I try to mix it up, too. Of course, strangers always assume they are boys if they aren't wearing pink. I am fully expecting princess overload in our house - 2 girls! I am giving them lots of gender neutral options right now and eventually they will start having preferences. For now, they love everything.

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  10. My daughter's first 2 years were spent in gender neutral colors & clothes. She'd gets coos & inevitably the comment "what a cute little boy, what's his name?" I learned to gauge the questioner. Blue hair and wrinkles? I'd simply say "Elliot" (her name is Ellie). I was done taking-one-for-the-team. Now I can't pry her out of princess, sparky,glitter-bombed pink dresses. But I draw the line at heels. Ugh!!

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