Media Magazine
December 2012: Issues - Does pink matter? (pg 60)
Early socialisation into gender roles has long been an issue for debate, often epitomised by the gendering of products and the associations of the colour pink. Nick Lacey investigates, and finds that the humble biro has become a symbolic battleground for debates around sexism.
Nursery rhymes- children learn this kind of blind sexism from an early age through rhymes that they deemed normal. eg.
What are little boys made of? 'Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails That's what little boys are made of!' What are little girls made of? 'Sugar and spice and all things nice That's what little girls are made of!'
Young children are taught gender roles from a very early age and although it wasn't thought of deep, nursery rhymes may have had a big impact on them and therefore continue to have an impact on you now.
The Pinkstinks website thinks that gendering of roles at a young age does matter and, in particular, the prevalence of toys that are aimed specifically at girls or boys: "Pinkstinks is a campaign that targets the products, media and marketing that prescribe heavily stereotyped and limiting roles to young girls. We believe that all children - girls and boys- are affected by the 'pinkification' of girlhood. Our aim is to challenge and reserve this growing trend. We also promote media literacy, self-esteem, positive body image and female role models for kids."
Pinkification refers to the prevalence of gender colour coding. Girls toys are often based on cosmetics and 'pretty pink things' whereas boys toys are often aimed at being more adventurous and physical.
It is possible to test for gender bias, for example using a 'commutation test', where one sign in a text is replaced by another belonging to the same 'group', in this case- gender. If you replace 'girl' with 'boy' to read: 'Little boys like pink, it's part of their innocent charm...' it is likely this sentence will strike you as strange. This emphasised the ideological bias.
Reflections:
- I believe this article shows an interesting insight to gender roles. I think that is shows a more 'backed up' perspective and they have used direct quotes from articles and studies such as the commutation test.
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