Starting on page 33 of Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein she starts the chapter by explaining what she is seeing inside of a toy fair (2011). Inside the toy fair she explains how there is literally thousands of toys and about a quarter of them are pink. With all the toys there were usually two of each and one would be considered a boy toy and the next would clearly be a girl's toy because it was pink. The girl's toys were all pink, feathery, sparkly, glitter, and shiny which was opposite to what was considered to be a boy's toy. When walking through the fair she asked a sales rep if the pink was really needed for the toys. Their answer was, "Only if you want to make money, and I guess girls are born loving pink" (Orenstein, 2011). …show more content…
People today are even going all out and having gender revealing parties. Which in my opinion find funny that they are not using the term correctly when it should be a sex revealing party. Having a gender revealing party then consist of either having pink for girl and blue for boy and the big surprise of it being a boy or girl. When the sex is then revealed people go crazy in buying either boy or girl clothes. With girl clothes it has to be pink and frilly so people can know that their baby is a girl. If it was just a blue shirt it would not sell for the girls because as the sales rep said before, "girls are born loving pink." To an extent I believe to be true. Starting at three months old their parents are having parties for their growing baby and assuming that they would like a specific color based on their sex. Parents may then even paint their babies room a certain color, pink or blue, so some of the first colors they are seen with or come into contact with is what has already been determined by the parents. In the chapter Orenstein even explains to us how children weren’t even color-coded at all until the early twentieth century (2011). So, as marketers had their way with toys and clothing they have manipulated society into believing that all toys and clothing for girls should then in fact be
My first interviewee, a white woman of age 36, responded to a question asking her about her favorite color by replying “Pink”! She went into specifics as well, detailing the amount of items she had in the color: “I had a pink blanket, pink cradle, pink boombox. Everything had to be pink”! Orenstein states “It’s not that pink is intrinsically bad, but it is such a tiny slice of the rainbow, and, though it may celebrate girlhood in one way, it also repeatedly and firmly fuses girls’ identity to
In Peggy Orenstein’s article, “What’s wrong with Cinderella?”, she analyzes the obsessions young girls have for stereotypical feminine products and toys, such as princesses and the color pink. Orenstein claims that such obsessions have negative effects on girls as they grow into women, restricting them into playing a specific role in adulthood. Although the author expresses much bias, she effectively supports her claims through her positions as a feminists and parent.
When it comes to the social construction of gender, the way toy stores advertise their product play a huge role in the contribution. Sitting on the floor looking at the Walmart toy selection, I noticed a few things that I never really paid close attention to before. First, when did the colors pink and blue become a tool used as a gender binary? Second, why does it seem to be a pattern of the professions that the toy emulate in regards to each gender? Third, what does this all mean?
Colors and symbols are used to attract children of a specific gender to a toy, by the color selection that is targeted to specific genders. For example, in the boy section the colors that were mostly seen were black, blue, red, green, and gray. Compared to the boy section, the girl section consisted of the colors pink, purple, yellow, and pastel colors. At Toys R Us, a person is immediately able to see which aisles of toys are directed to girls and which are directed to boys because of the drastic color change. In the book, GENDER: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions, Lisa Wade and Myra M. Ferree explain that men and women can be divided based on the gender norms and expectations, “dividing of the world into pink baby blankets and blue, suits
The toy section at Target had many clear differences in the toys for boys and the toys for girls. The types of toys that were out on the shelves were different, but also the way the toys were presented were different. Girls toys mainly consisted of stuffed animals, dress up clothes, babies and dolls including Bratz, Barbies and fairies. The primary colors of all these toys consisted of different shades of purple, pink, and white. There were bits of blue and yellow but it seemed that all the colors stood out and had a type of feminine aspect to them. Besides color, the girl’s toys were often soft and fuzzy or
For instance, when she says that Target and Disney removed all the labels from their toys and clothes to avoid gender partiality, however, the fact that the color remains separates tools used by both boys and girls. Additionally, she uses references from the current world situations and in the past to support her statements. According to Claire, today there is gender partiality in children’s clothing. She cites from Paoletti who says that before the 20th-century, blue was a feminine color whereas pink was a masculine color. Additionally, toddlers and babies before the First World War wore loose fitting and white attires. Consequently, the reader identifies that there is the use of sound evidence to support claims in the
Goldieblox whole premise of attempting to break the down the gender barriers of the pink and blue aisle but this may be a cover up for not a very good toy. This is where a problem lies for the toy company. The quality of product does not seem like a top priority for Goldieblox. In order to reach their full potential, more emphasis from Goldieblox must be put on quality, and also how fun your product
“Girls don’t like trains!” (Orenstein, 2011, p 3). “Daisy threw a tantrum when I tried to wrestle her into pants’ or ‘as if by osmosis she has learned the names and gown colour of every Disney Princess” (Orenstein, 2011, p 3). Companies, brand, organizations, have separated clothing for males and females and have very little gender neutral or unisex selection (Peck, 2014). The female clothes tend towards the pinks and purples with frilly dresses and they play with Barbie’s while the male’s clothes are blues and greens and they play with trucks
In the article, the author mentioned that her daughter figured out pink is for girls and that’s what she wants to be. Everyone has their own taste and preferences. "I'd prefer my daughter to play with regular construction tools and LEGO, not cutesy heart-embossed pink
In “The Socio-Aesthetics of Pink,” Elizabeth Camp shares with us her two year old daughter’s love for everything pink. The article goes between talking about Camp’s and society's opinion on the color, and analyzing how significant it is for girls to like pink. People put too much meaning behind color, associating it with gender, and not only for girls but for boys too. There’s no need to put your child’s identity behind something so meaningless. It does not matter if your son likes pink or if your daughter likes blue.
Even before the children are born, parents begin choosing clothing and decorations by color based on the sex of the baby. The stereotype of pink, pastels, yellow and white for girls and bright or dark colors like green, blue and red for boys has long been a part of culture. How many times have you heard kids argue over toys because girls don’t want that icky boy color or the boys don’t want the gross girl color? This
Founded in May 2008, Pinkstinks encourages girls to feel comfortable in whatever color they wear. Girls just want to have fun! That’s why we run targeted campaigns aimed at creating positive changes in the products, messages, labelling, categorization and representation of girls.
Gender identity, color association, and toy advertisement are object that in society has changed the perceptive of a culture's expectations. In the early eighteen century, society views towards the children association with gender were not existent. Although, in the 1920s, the classification of sex identity started to emerge because of social changes occurring in the labor force. As a result, gender colors such as, pink and blue rose to promote gender individualization, and maintain social norms. Consequently, the usage of gender colors created a social stereotype of gender expectations. The media then used gender associations to portray social expectations on children’s toys. As a result, of toy generalization, children grow up to develop
Gender socialization often begins early once parents are shown the sex of their child; from then on, baby showers are planned according to gender “appropriate” colors, which are often pink for girls and blue for boys. Even differences in how children are spoke to can be picked up easily in Western cultures. Girls are called pretty and sweet, whereas boys are handsome and strong. Ultimately, the way children learn to identify with their gender culture is in part due to not only family and friends, media, schools, and religion, but also from the toys that may inexplicitly advertise gender expectations. Gender-typed toys may be bought for children as a way for parents to encourage and reinforce gender-appropriate behaviors. However, recent debates have engulfed toy manufacturers and major retailers, which has brought about changes in toy design and marketing in an effort to make reflect more realistic and gender neutral options.
In the late 1800s, male and female tots wore frilly white dresses but somewhere in the mid-19th century, pastel baby clothes were introduced where pink was for boys because pink was a stronger color and blue, more dainty and prettier was for girls. In the 1940’s and again in the mid-‘80s, manufactures decided that pink was for girls and blue for boys. Today, before we make our entrance into this world and our gender is unidentified, parents begin to prepare for our birth by purchasing unisex and neutral clothes with colors such as yellow, mint, tan, white, etc. Pending on our gender once identified the