Op-ed: My Son Likes Pink. So What?
The first step to stopping bullying? Rejecting the idea that pink is only for girls.
BY Niki Bhatia
November 23 2012 4:00 AM ET
http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2012/11/23/so-what-if-my-son-likes-pink (http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2012/11/23/so-what-if-my-son-likes-pink)
When my younger son was 3, he loved the color pink. I bought him a Dora the Explorer doll, a stroller and a couple of other dolls he asked for. While in preschool, he wanted My Little Pony, Littlest Petshop and Zoobles, which apparently were marketed mostly to girls. Then one day, I heard my older son telling my younger one that he was "like a girl" because he liked the color pink and enjoyed playing with the kitchen toys. After hearing him taunt his brother, I had to have a serious talk with him. In my mind, teasing like this is what leads to bullying later.
I tried to explain to my older son that they are just toys, and pink was just a color like red or blue. I told him how he also liked the color pink when he was little. I needed him to understand that toys and colors did not define who children are. Colors were just colors, and toys were just a way for young children to learn about the bigger world around them. Their father loved to cook, so, I asked, what was the big deal about a little boy playing with the kitchen set? My two boys became the inspiration for my book, Pink is Just a Color And So Is Blue.
In many places, anti-bullying and anti-teasing education often starts in middle school. Unfortunately, by this age, many kids already have an engrained set of beliefs and ideals.
I usually tell people "pink was considered manly until somebody in the marketing department created the idea of blue - boys / pink -girls". I think it happened during the thirties?
I'd rather have my children playing with MLP rather than weapon replicas. They are just toys, but our society is so damn stupid...
Ya know , I'll probably never get a straight answer to the age old question of "Stereotypes " but this is definetly one of them, The color Pink. In society , peopleconsider a woman who can rope a steer, drive a Pick Up truck and fix a gasoline tank as Kwell. You let a guy want to express himself in the kitchen, design a room, an horror of horrors , want to be a NURSE! Oh my goodness !!!!!!!! Ya know , this sillyness needs to stop ........... ellen