A few months ago, Lego was criticized for introducing a line of sexist products directed at girls. They were pink, and overly girly, and I don't know, maybe they brainwashed little girls with concepts like "Math is Hard." I heard about this outrage on NPR when I was half-paying attention, and also my Facebook friends posted about it. So clearly I am some sort of well-informed expert on the topic. (Side note:
I would like to criticize Lego for the outrage of scattering a billion tiny pieces to a million Star Wars Lego projects from the top of my house to the bottom; it really hurts when you step on one of those things in the middle of the night on the way to the bathroom.) While I totally support those who fight for toy equality, and (in case you know nothing about me) I am a complete feminist, I start to zone out when people disrespect my favorite color. It is not pink's fault that the world is sexist.
When we renovated our kitchen, I knew I wanted a pink stove. This is the one I got.
Right after we bought our house, I mused about how pretty it would look pink. My husband pretended to be in charge, and said, "Under no circumstances are you to paint the house pink." I paid him no mind. Here's how it looks now.
Above is a random photo of me in a cheap pink wig at a cheap beach rental.
I think Quinn on Glee looked better than I do with pink hair.
My daughter and I always bust out our pink coats for Easter. I am guessing that Gloria Steinem does not own a pink coat, but I think she would look very nice in one.
Pink peonies are pretty. However, I am not really a big fan of the singer Pink, although I enjoy that she is a tough broad and her name is awesome, obviously.
I am talking about this now because Daisy over at xojane
posted about a new foosball table that features girl players. I enjoyed the post, except for the fact that in passing, Daisy dissed the color of the table. Pink. Them's fighting words, little missy. I love foosball, and I think I am awesome at it, and it reminds me of the year that I lived in a fraternity while simultaneously writing anti-fraternity screeds in the school paper. Only one thing would get me more excited about playing foosball: if the players were female and the table was pink. I wish I could challenge any pink haters to a game on
this table. Too bad it costs $4700.
You probably already know this, but historically pink was for baby boys (watered down red) and light blue was for baby girls. It's only relatively recently that pink has become associated with girlyness. When I was younger I thought I had to hate pink because I was a feminist, but now I know that I can have both my feminism and my super flattering roses and fuchsias and blushes. Yay!
ReplyDeleteI really like it when men wear pink. My brother- in-law does it well.
DeleteWow, you really DO like pink! I'm with ya on the idea that there is nothing un-feminist about the color pink.
ReplyDeleteOh, you make me feel so much better about the pink mohair blazer I thrifted a couple of weeks ago. I like to wear the color, especially on campus, where I know it gives my feminist colleagues discomfort.
ReplyDeleteIt's not so much that the legos are pink that makes them worthy of derision, but that they're not really fully integratable into the world of "regular" legos, and that communicates a lack of quality and true investment. the people aren't even the same scale. There's a deliberate disconnection in a world of toys that are by nature designed to interconnect. By making pink legos for girls, it strongly implies that the other legos are for boys. When, previously, they were a truly gender-neutral toy.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't even get me started about how kids don't ever really build freestyle stuff from the big box of random legos; it's all lego star wars kits now and "where are the instructions?". Why couldn't there be pink legos in the big box of awesome, random legos? And anybody could build anything with them? Even boys, who like pink instinctively until they're culturally mandated not to like it. Pink is awesome. Legos are awesome. Kids deserve better.
Thanks for your insights, A. I just remembered that we had a Dora Lego set about 5 years ago, whichI am pretty sure also had pink pieces in it.
ReplyDeleteWhat bugs me about the foosball table is that somebody in the upstairs offices decided that it HAD to be pink, so that men wouldn't accidentally buy a foosball table with girl players. That color is a warning sign.
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