Looking around our house, every other toy is pink. Going through my daughters’ wardrobe, there is a high content of pink. The pink pages stare at me from the toy catalogues. There are pink cups, plates and bowls in the kitchen. Despite our efforts to stay away from pink, we are buried in pink stuff!!! I totally understand what British social enterprise, Pink Stinks, is going on about. Their campaign challenges the culture of pink to overhaul the gender stereotypes.
I was most interested to read their Early Learning Centre Report of December 2010 as part of their Emergency Learning Campaign. It can be read on the Pink Stinks home page. ELC have made improvements on gender stereotyping. Impressively enough, this campaign has managed to change the language used in ELC catalogues. Moreover, it has changed the way dressing up and role play is sold. Girls are no longer in passive roles and are portrayed as vets, firefighters and doctors costumes. A positive image for our children.
I am not against the colour pink; in fact as a colour, I quite like it. However, the stereotypes associated with the colour are somewhat dismaying and need to be addressed.
As children look through catalogues and see adverts, they need to see girls and boys playing with all toys. Thomas the Tank Engine can be as much fun for girls as for boys.
Bunty
p.s. a big thank you to one of Chatterboxes who sent in this report.
