I’m having a very busy week, so how about you go over to Skepchick and check out this post about gendered Legos.
Your head will asplode. GRRRRRR.
Interestingly, this was covered last year at Feministe in a different venue–Sweden.
I’ll also add several other really annoying instances of pink I’ve seen lately–
- Pink Chocolate bars so you can “pleasure yourself”
- FairlyOddMother covers Target’s gendered ads
- Dell’s computer for women. Because you want your laptop to be pink and have calorie calculators–who cares about RAM and a quad-core processor?
- Ok, Seriously, that “Della” thing really chaps me. Look at these photos–all the women have matched the color of their laptops to their outfits.
Dude. If my socks match each other, it’s a good day. URG.
12 Comments
Someone intentionally coordinating laptop and clothing colors would make me nervous.
I actually like the idea of manufacturing computers in colors other than black or beige. Dell really shouldn’t market that only to women.
you’re able to have a day of matching your socks?
Tell it like it is, BG!
Strangely, since my daughter was born I’ve developed a new found affinity for pink, but not in the “aw so sweet and girly” way… more in a “shit yeah girls kick ass” kind of way. If that makes sense.
You wear socks? Does the fact that my yellow laptop matches my yellow tracker make me odd? LOL
I hated pink when I was a little girl and I feel bad for any growing up now with all the pink overload. I think the moment I realized it had gone way too far is when I saw pink baseballs for sale.
Well, if it gets little girls into legos, maybe they’ll grow up to be architects? Nothing but pink buildings of course, but it’s a start!
hee hee … on the OTHER HAND … do you REALLY want a ‘gender neutral’ world? … and, just for the record, I do happen to like pink. Alot. Especially pink peonies … But then, I like yellow too, and blue, sky blue, and mauve, and turqoise and forest green and … ah well, YOU get the PICTURE, we be colour sentient beings. Love your blog.
I dunno; these things are always about the context. One of the complaints I’ve heard is that girls don’t play much with Legos or other science/engineering-based toys*. So maybe this is a good thing, if it gets girls interested and gets parents buying these for their daughters? Isn’t it good for companies that make science/engineering products to reach out to girls as a niche market?
Yes, let’s see pink telescopes with flowers painted on them and Jonas Brothers star charts, if it gets them interested in astronomy!
(*-Of course, it seems to me lately that Legos aren’t really the pure-engineering toys I remember playing with, so maybe I’m talking out of my rear end here…)
Well, if they were doing something besides making freaky pink bunnies and princess castles, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.
It’s not just the pink, but the *passivity* it represents.
Compare those two photos at Skepchick–they are not two different groups of children doing the same thing. They are profoundly different, and severely limits what either group will learn is “normal.”
(for the record, I had non-pink Lincoln Logs and loved them as a kid.)
I hate that shit. I have nothing against the color pink or other pastels, but I don’t think it’s necessary to get girls excited about science and engineering. I have worked with kids (males & females) and the females show just as much interest in bugs…and I don’t have to wrap a pink bow around them. My friend has photos of a group of girls dressed nicely with bows in their hair, digging into a tub of dirt looking for bugs.It’s just exposing them to it and parents allowing their kids to explore.
Hey, I played with Legos…and they didn’t need to be pink! I aquired a HUGE Lego collection. I think it’s more that some parents aren’t buying Legos for their daughters.