Stereotypes In Peggy Orenstein's Cinderella Ate My Daughter

There was a distinct division of the boys and girls toys by the representation of colors. The majority of the boy toys were mostly blue, green and red. This appeared to be resemble a more masculine side because the colors were of a “rugged” dark under tone. While

When women are growing up, they either hope or are supposed to be ladylike. From the pink blanket for a newborn baby girl to the laced kerchief for an old woman, there exist the standards that restrain female behavior and influence women’s lives as time goes on. Similarly, Lynn Peril argues that “Pink think is a set of ideas and attitudes about what constitutes proper female behavior” (281). In the selection “Pink Think,” which is selected from the introduction to Pink Think, Peril briefly introduces several instructions about female behavior for daily life and illustrates a few factoids of femininity when she was born. By using some theories of Pink Think and several specific examples from history, the author establishes the case that a woman has been expected to fit into a specific mold in order to be a successful woman in life. Nevertheless, some people think that the stereotypes of Pink Think have indeed changed and do not exist in today’s life because of the replacement of new stereotypes. However, through examining the role play games for women, the female’s behavior between past and present, the pink toys for girls, and the first blanket for a newborn baby girl, the pink think still exists in today’s society.

The toy section at Target had many clear differences in the toys for boys and the toys for girls. The types of toys that were out on the shelves were different, but also the way the toys were presented were different. Girls toys mainly consisted of stuffed animals, dress up clothes, babies and dolls including Bratz, Barbies and fairies. The primary colors of all these toys consisted of different shades of purple, pink, and white. There were bits of blue and yellow but it seemed that all the colors stood out and had a type of feminine aspect to them. Besides color, the girl’s toys were often soft and fuzzy or

In Peggy Orenstein’s article, “What’s wrong with Cinderella?”, she analyzes the obsessions young girls have for stereotypical feminine products and toys, such as princesses and the color pink. Orenstein claims that such obsessions have negative effects on girls as they grow into women, restricting them into playing a specific role in adulthood. Although the author expresses much bias, she effectively supports her claims through her positions as a feminists and parent.

For instance, when she says that Target and Disney removed all the labels from their toys and clothes to avoid gender partiality, however, the fact that the color remains separates tools used by both boys and girls. Additionally, she uses references from the current world situations and in the past to support her statements. According to Claire, today there is gender partiality in children’s clothing. She cites from Paoletti who says that before the 20th-century, blue was a feminine color whereas pink was a masculine color. Additionally, toddlers and babies before the First World War wore loose fitting and white attires. Consequently, the reader identifies that there is the use of sound evidence to support claims in the

ynn Peril’s, Pink Think is a book that examines the influences of the feminine ideal. Peril was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1985. She writes, edits, publishes, and dissects popular culture, especially that concerning gender-related behavioral instructions. She starts off the essay with her thesis saying that the human female is bombarded with advice on how to wield those feminine craftiness. She starts the book with how young women were supposed to wear conservative dresses, and get boyfriends in hopes of those boyfriends to become their husbands and fathering their children so they may become what was perceived as victorious, a mother and housewife. These ideas and concepts fitted to the times that Peril mentions in her book. She founds this a very negative outlook on pink think and is trying to me, the reader to also look at the book as something negative and vile. Today, I believe that these stereotypes have indeed changed, and do not exist as much in the world we live in today. However, in today’s world new concepts and ideas have manifested in for young women in America.

     Even before the children are born, parents begin choosing clothing and decorations by color based on the sex of the baby. The stereotype of pink, pastels, yellow and white for girls and bright or dark colors like green, blue and red for boys has long been a part of culture. How many times have you heard kids argue over toys because girls don’t want that icky boy color or the boys don’t want the gross girl color? This

If it was just a blue shirt it would not sell for the girls because as the sales rep said before, "girls are born loving pink." To an extent I believe to be true. Starting at three months old their parents are having parties for their growing baby and assuming that they would like a specific color based on their sex. Parents may then even paint their babies room a certain color, pink or blue, so some of the first colors they are seen with or come into contact with is what has already been determined by the parents. In the chapter Orenstein even explains to us how children weren’t even color-coded at all until the early twentieth century (2011).

Directly after a parent identifies the sex of their child, they immediately purchase infant-associated items according to their color. For example, an expecting family may buy their baby girl a pink blanket. Another expecting family may buy their baby boy a blue blanket. While this appears natural and unquestionable, predicaments like these build the basis of our sexist society. When that baby boy or girl matures, they will come to the realization that pink is a feminine color and blue is a masculine color.

Although colors are important identifiers during infancy; colors should not be as pertinent in a child’s life. By age three or four, a child is fully aware of his or her preference and a girl should not be censured for preferring a t-shirt with a truck rather than a pink dress. Women did not fight for representation and respect to be considered “too gentle” for playing certain sports or for acting in a certain manner- such erroneous ideals influence a polarizable modern society. When a woman becomes a Chief Executive Officer of a company, she is still looked upon as “bossy” when making decisions as men are designated to be the leaders of society. The ridiculous notion that women are too emotional for leadership or for work in STEM fields continues to be an issue due to the beliefs that are sparked at infancy; female babies are commended when they choose a doll as a toy, and the parents of male babies can shine with pride when their sons reach for a truck during play time. The show FRIENDS had demonstrated such polarizing behavior when Ross, one of the characters on the show, attempted to convince his son to play with G.I.- Joe instead of a doll- a doll was not “manly enough” for the

In “The Socio-Aesthetics of Pink,” Elizabeth Camp shares with us her two year old daughter’s love for everything pink. The article goes between talking about Camp’s and society's opinion on the color, and analyzing how significant it is for girls to like pink. People put too much meaning behind color, associating it with gender, and not only for girls but for boys too. There’s no need to put your child’s identity behind something so meaningless. It does not matter if your son likes pink or if your daughter likes blue.

Gender roles are roles,dependant on gender, made over time by society. Society has somehow formed the bias that one gender has to act the way that they believe is civil,according to history. The picture shown on page 75 in the eBook shows a women working,in what seems, a metal shop. The women seems focused in her job at task. Stereotypically,a man would work this position. Yet, this picture broke societies rules of what a women should be doing in life. According to the article, “Why Is Pink for Girls and Blue for Boys?” by Natalie Wolchover (on www.Livescience,com) “Decades of research by University of Maryland historian Jo Paoletti suggests that up until the 1950s, chaos reigned when it came to the colors of baby paraphernalia. "There was

You wake up and on your morning commute the city skyline is illuminated in pink. You walk into the office and your coworkers are sporting hot pink shirts and buttons. At lunch you see those same coworkers munching way on KFC from a pink bucket and washing it down with pink bottles of Pepsi. After lunch your boss calls a team meeting because Katherine was just diagnosed with breast cancer, the third coworker this year, so he rallies the troops to support her by “baking a dozen for the cure” and wearing even morepink tomorrow. you come home exhausted from the day and put on Monday night football to sell all of your favorite athletes, wearing what other than pink. You say to yourself “If I didn’t know better I think I have been pink washed”.

I believe pink color association came from beliefs surrounding the color, in which developed into a norm. The stereotype and expectation that women should do the cooking and the house work was most likely created back then men where sent to work while the women cooked and tidied the house. The expectation that women are always suppose to be presentable to be looked at is likely came from to wanting to

Founded in May 2008, Pinkstinks encourages girls to feel comfortable in whatever color they wear. Girls just want to have fun! That’s why we run targeted campaigns aimed at creating positive changes in the products, messages, labelling, categorization and representation of girls.