Did you know back in the early 1900s pink was seen as the colour of choice for boys, being perceived as the stronger colour whilst blue was considered much more delicate and fitting for a baby girl. Walk into any baby clothing department today and you’ll soon see this is clearly no longer the case.
Now you might be thinking that from the title, I’m a pink hater. That really isn’t the case. I consider myself quite the girly girl and have lots of pink in my wardrobe. However, what I do object to is the blanket wall of blush, fuchsia and salmon whenever I shop for ANYTHING for my girls.
Supply or Demand?
So what came first the demand for pink or are our little girls subject to a marketing trap that just wants to limit their choices. I’ve come up with a list of five reason I think it’s time to stop buying pink.
1) Overkill
No pink, are you mad? I really don’t want to deprive my girls of any colour including pink but my husband and I have made a conscience effort to avoid the colour and in fact princesses, fairies and frilliness since our twins were born. At two and a half, is our house empty of pink? – no way. You see, even though we try not to buy it, stuff slips through. Gifts are the prime example. At every occasion they will receive the typical girly gifts but that’s fine because we don’t buy much of it and so there is a balance.
2) Colour/gender link
Experts believe that until about 2.5yrs girls prefer other colours equally to pink. However as their awareness of gender developes, so does their love for this colour in particular. Clearly this demonstates that a pink obsession is not biological or built in. A girl can be just as girly in another colour if that’s what she wants. I want my girls to know that a colour doesn’t define them or their gender identity.
3) Identical but Pink
For Christmas, this year we bought our girls a kitchen (women in the kitchen…that’s a whole other blog post). It’s a lovely red and blue one and matches our colourful playroom nicely. Sitting right next to it in the shop was an identical model in pink. Why??? Another popular toy maker has a colourful garage but again felt the need to produce a second one in pink. What reason is there to produce two the same but just make one pink? By avoiding this, I’m trying to fight against the trend that EVERYTHING needs a pink equivalent.
4) Love the rainbow
I’ve visited houses and been staggered by the amount of pink. It is just everywhere. Maybe it’s just my taste but the pastelly pink that dominates girl’s toys, clothes, books and decor is just so boring. I’m a fan of rainbows, polka dots and stripes and love to see splashes of colour as I walk around. Clearly this is a personal preference, but I say we should embrace more colours in our life and home.
5) Let’s appreciate pink
Finally, if we stop buying pink, maybe we will send a message to the world that we want more choice. Maybe when I go to buy a cup or dress or doll, there will colours other than blue or pink. If pink’s popularity declined we’d all be able to enjoy it for what it is – just a colour.
I’m sure some of you are sitting there thinking my girl’s favourite colour is pink and that’s fine. I completely agree but just stop and think why. Is it any surprise she loves it? Her favourite toys, TV programmes and even snacks are covered in it.
I don’t always find it easy especially when I literally have the choice of pink or blue and I’ll be honest, I probably would pick pink. Last year my husband bought the girls navy blue whale ponchos (the other option was a pink princess one) and I worried people would think they were boys. How ridiculous is that? Firstly who cares? Well, clearly me and secondly, who designates blue or whales for boys.
Last week we went to buy some mock crocs and the only option in the girl’s section was pink glittery. We then found the boys equivalent which were identical but in blue and red. I preferred the pink but bought one of each ‘boy’ colour. Jess and Emily have been mix and matching and I think they look great.
What do you think… is there too much pink? Does it even matter?
If you enjoyed this you might like to read my issues with The Aldi Special Buys
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