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When shopping for gifts for the sweet little girls in your life this holiday season, consider the message that mother Emma Moore and her sister Abi are trying to spread -- pink stinks.The pair, one a mother of twin girls, the other of twin boys, are calling for a boycott of the Early Learning Centre, a toy store in the U.K., after the two noticed the toys they sell are clearly marketed for girls and boys based on color.
Their protest, nicknamed Pinkstinks, says that pink dresses, kitchen toys, dollhouses and other playthings rendered strictly in rosy hues teach girls early that they have different roles than boys. This process causes girls to value beauty over brains and fosters an obsession with physical appearance. The mothers have targeted the Early Learning Centre specifically because it bills itself as an educational toy company, with a mission statement that says it aims to help children reach their full potential.
The boycott comes on the heels of a similar toy-store snafu involving Toys 'R' Us -- the huge children's retailer was the subject of public scrutiny recently after a consumer advocacy group complained that its Christmas catalog featured "outdated gender roles."
Presently, Pinkstinks has the support of former consumer czar Ed Mayo, who agrees that the "color apartheid" puts children on different paths in life, and while it might not be the color pink's fault, one of those paths definitely leads to lower pay and status than the other. It sounds a little extreme but, as Mr. Mayo asked in the London Telegraph, "Why on Earth do girls need to have a globe in pink?" Good question.
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Wednesday 02 December
By MGrosheim
Two women looking for their 15-minutes of fame. Nothing more. Nothing less. And, nothing better to do with their lives. Very sad.
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Wednesday 02 December
By jules
If you don't like pink don't buy it! I happen to like pink and if it were up to me I would have lived in the Barbie Dream House growing up, but since I shared a room with my tomboy sister whos idea of shopping was my closet ,our room was yellow. My tomboy sister now has a daughter,who loves everything pink,and everything shopping. Pink does not define you as a person you define yourself as a person.
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Wednesday 02 December
By ROWDY ONE
way to go, moms!! barbie no longer has intellectual careers, paris hilton is a "role model", toys are still mass produced with a gender bias. thank you for opening the eyes of a few more parents. truely tho, when it comes down to, we as parents have to make smart decisions for our own children. only you can instill your child with the values you hold dear.
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Wednesday 02 December
By jbjg24m
really i could care less about it !
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Wednesday 02 December
By orlando villanueva
Honestly speaking the only reason they sell things in pink is because the majority of people like the color pink. Its not for gender and things necessarily. My little girl loves pink in everything because its what she likes, simple as that.
She is tougher than any girl in her class and overpowers her brother and cousins. No one can take care of herself than her.
There is no reason people can't enjoy a color if you don't want it or like then just don't buy. In today's economy you vote with wallets not protest.
Remember the world revolves around money not logic and sexual bias.
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Wednesday 02 December
By Victoria
For heaven's sake! Didn't you watch John Stossels' report several years ago on color for boys and girls? Suggest you dig it up! Manufacturers have just settled on a DISTINCT difference between boys and girls. They PREFER certain colors instinctively, it's INBORN, not because they receive toys in a particular color. Get over it!
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Wednesday 02 December
By marlacq
Pink is a beautiful color - an little girls are entitled to have their own color. For starters, maybe it gently teaches them that they are different from boys. This has nothing to do with achievement later in life. It's just a fact.
It would be a really, really boring world if everyone were the same. The pink and blue concept for baby boys and girls is here to stay, like it or not.
Pink has always been my favorite crayon !!
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Wednesday 02 December
By JWhit
I have 3 girls. The first loves pink, the second loves purple, and the third loves red. They all like to play with dolls, they all like the computer, they all play with toy cars and trains. And yes, if I would have had a boy, he would have been allowed to play with dolls. Get over yourselves!
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Wednesday 02 December
By Ben
Has the thought ever occured that girls might just like that color? The color of a toy isn't going to effect how successful a girl is in life. What matters is how the parents raise that child and what they teach them about the real world. Maybe these parents that are up in arms should quit wasting their time with exploded opinions of irrelevant things and actually spend time with their children. Maybe try teaching them and helping them achieve higher goals.
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Wednesday 02 December
By origamib
I'm not a feminazi--but even I think that it sucks that toy 'house cleaning tools' sets are nearly always modeled in pink with the photo ads ALWAYS have a picture of a little GIRL smiling away while vaccuming with her little pink Hoover or doing laundry in her little pink washing machine. Division of household labor hasn't changed for the better, even though women are working outside the home more than ever--and still working for less pay than their male counterparts. Especially with so many single parent families--READ SINGLE MOTHERS--salaries need to be equal for equal work. Little pink toy dustpans need to go.
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Wednesday 02 December
By Dr Laurey
How ridiculous! These silly women only want their ten seconds of fame. I know many powerful, intelligent, successful women who have worn pink all their lives. I think it is more how the family raise these girls instead of what color they wear.
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Wednesday 02 December
By Phyllis
I have a daughter who I dressed in pink when she was very little because she had blond hair and the color looked great on her... She went through a tomboy faze where she only wore jeans... she is one of the most independent women that I know now, and guess what her favorite color is.. Yep, it's pink... Color preference has nothing to do with how a child will finally end up... A child will grow up the way it is raised by it's parents and not by the color of clothes, toys or anything else... As a matter of fact, my daughter's nepehew's favorite color right now is pink... color has nothing to do with gender bias...
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Wednesday 02 December
By Howie
Some of these people that are against stuff like this really need to get a life or a job or something. The world can do without nutcases like you people. there are more important issues in this world and with kids that they should be concerned about and not the color of a freaking toy. get a life! Worry about your kid staying in school, staying away from drugs,jail, thier future, etc. Forget the damn toys already, they will grow out of it. let them be kids for crying out loud.
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Wednesday 02 December
By tim317
I was waiting to see when the liberals would go to far Its getting pretty close. You are your own worse enemy. No pun intended But keep up your liberal pinko crap. Just enjoy your lives and control your own little area. Stay out of my house and life....
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Wednesday 02 December
By Olivia
This is all ridiculous, I have 2 girls and they both love pink. Everything is pink. I as a parent teach them to be strong women not their pink toys or clothes. If you don't like the color pink then don't buy it for your child. All this stuff about T.V., religion, music, and now toys. If you don't like it or agree with it then don't listen, watch, or buy. It's that simple.
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Wednesday 02 December
By jimbarry1946
There ARE fundimental differences between boys and girls. There IS a maternal instinct to the female of the species be it human or otherwise. I'm all in favor of equal pay for the SAME work. I sit at a computer much of the day making comments like this. It's at least as worthwhile as what these women are doing.
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Wednesday 02 December
By Marily
Oh, please! I have two boys and neither choose pink, their favorite color is blue. Boys and girls definitely have different preferences and whats wrong with that? I say celebrate the differences.
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Wednesday 02 December
By martesa
Oh, for Pete's sake! Just don't buy it if you don't want your girl to be exposed to pink. My sister has 2 girls, raised the same, the oldest was a tomboy until she hit highschool, and then decided she wanted to look like a girl. Her favorite colors growing up were blue and green. The second is more of a girlie girl -- not into hair and make up and such, even though she's a junior in high school, and her favorite colors were pink and purple. Now she likes red. My sister-in-law tried to raise her children gender-neutral. Her young son sometimes wore his big sister's dresses when he was little -- his choice, but he was all boy in every other way, liked trucks, cars, loud noises; and her daughter wore some dresses and some slacks. No blue/pink for either. Now he's all boy -- rough and tumble, etc.; and her daughter is the typical teen girl, battling over too-short dresses, pierced ears with very dangly earrings, and lots of make-up, nails, etc. Kids will gravitate to what they want. Even if they are given pink/blue as infants, they'll choose what they like when they're old enough to do so. And if a little girl likes pink, what's wrong with it.. The only thing that is wrong is for parents to force choices/behaviors on kids due to their gender, or for any other reason (the mom always wanted to be a dr., and by God her dtr. will, etc....) Lighten up, and let the kids be who they are. Guide them, correct them, but give them freedom of choice. Because this lady has issues is no reason to ban anything. She can just choose not to buy those items for her dtr. It amazes me how people can make issues out of nothing!
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Wednesday 02 December
By Danlynn
well duh... women and men DO have different roles!!!
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Wednesday 02 December
By Corey
Ugh....we do have different roles!!!! One isn't less than the other, but there IS A CLEAR DISTINCTION BETWEEN MALES AND FEMALES. And there should be.
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