Pink

Most girls these days consider pink as their favorite color…You go out in the streets and I bet there is one you’d spot immediately dressed all in pink..shirt, pants, socks, shoes (and jacket). My daughter is one, though she wears red, blue and violet too. Don’t blame me, I am one of those moms who have been dictated by society about gender policies…that pink is for girls and blue is for boys, that Barbies are for girls and toy cars are for boys. Dressing them with the wrong colors or letting them play with toys that are supposedly not for them makes them fall out of the two categories. Below is a conversation between my kids about the subject. (Yes, I eavesdrop on them lol.)

Daughter: Why are you wearing my socks, those are light blue, you’re not supposed to wear them.

Son: Mommy said its mine coz its a size smaller than yours, she bought the wrong ones.

Daughter: Don’t you know that boys are supposed to wear darker stuff, you can wear dark blue but not light blue, and those socks even have some pink on it.

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I continued playing deaf, my daughter said a lot more about gender policies to which my son was still clueless. He didn’t reply but I think the idea is rubbing on him already.

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Okay, I must admit I’m partly to blame. I have one girl and you know how fun it is to dress ’em up. Boys are the typical shorts, pants, shirt routine opposed to girls’ dresses, skirt, blouses and don’t forget hair accessories. Most of us moms with girls could also be guilty of the ‘princess pampering’ stage, are we not? Princesses as the stories tell are supposed to be treated well, they dress well except of course when they were still the ‘rag girl.’ It so happened that pink is almost (perhaps) synonymous to ‘princess’ or ‘barbie.’ Whatever dictated the trend for pink=girls:blue=boys, we see it too effective. Go to the mall or other mass retail store and you’ll see them stacked, this side pink, that side blue, perhaps a very little section for NOT gendered. So what can you gift a friend (who didn’t want to know what her baby’s gender is) during the baby shower? Tradition dictates yellow and pale-green are the top choices, I always heard friends say, ‘it’s safe.’

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(More soon.)

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A post for Unique Exposures Weekend Challenge, Pink.