Summary Of Pink Think By Lynn Peril

Gender roles have been a hotly debated topic in the most recent years, especially the role of women in society. Women have had set expectations that they are believed to conform to, which is shown in many pieces of film and literature. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the life of a man in the upper class in the 1920’s, as well as women in the 1920’s. The movie The Princess Bride, written by William Goldman, visually explains the treatment and expectations of women, and especially focuses on the “damsel in distress” stereotype.. Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist” explains the stereotypes against women and ways women can come together and fight these constraints. Based on these sources, societal expectations take away from each individual’s identity, forcing women to conform to society's standards. In order to fight against these expectations, women have banded together and formed movements against these standards.

While reading “Gender,” an essay by Jack Halberstam, the topic of sexism was brought to the forefront of my mind. It has been brought up more often in conversation in the modern era, issues such as how a few cruel insults pertain to female reproductive anatomy and, in a sense, degrade females and ultimately identify them, as well as femininity, as inherently “bad”. Such a thought stemmed from how Halberstam touches on the “problematic stabilization of the meaning of ‘women’ and ‘female’”: meaning there is no room for argument when it comes to your gender—you’re either a girl or not. You either fit into a strict mold, or you do not.

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.

Culture often thrives off of polar opposites—hot and cold, bitter and sweet, male and female. By setting up these opposing constructs, one can easily find a set definition for each. A hot surface could scorch someone or a cold temperature could cause them to shiver. In the same way, a bitter substance would be less enjoyable to eat than a sweet one. These terms are often defined by mentioning their antitheses. Because it’s comfortable to embrace specificity and certainty, topics such as gender and gender expression often get simplified into binary existences—however, they don’t quite operate under the same parameters. In an essay entitled “Bad Feminist”, Dr. Roxane Gay explores and warns against the dangers of binary thinking. Throughout

The book is titled: Pink Think Becoming A Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons, the author of the book is Lynn Peril. The first copyright of the book is in 2002 the type of book pink think it would be the author stating her ideals on what it is to be a woman. The subject matter is the ideal woman meaning what America sees as the ideal woman and the things they have done to create or influence women to go and become these ideal roles. The book shows various pictures depicting how women were looked at as well shows newspaper advertisements and pictures of the different roles of men and women in society. The pictures are there to show the ideology of the time of how people wanted women to basically worship the men and treat them with nothing but love and respect. Also included are quizzes from magazines that were created to test if you were feminine enough. These quizzes were good example of what people assumed the role of a women were. The price of the book varies from place to place and is sold between $10.00-$15.00 the isbn for the book is 978-0-393-32354-2.

There is something subtle about attitudes toward women, something that many people act in accordance to but are only subconsciously aware of. It is the constant judgment that women face, and it is also something Deborah Tannen noticed while sitting in an ordinary meeting one day. During that meeting, she found herself noticing only the females of the room, not the men. Tannen then realized that it was because “The men’s styles were unmarked” (Tannen 389). While there are standard hairstyles and clothing for men, there are none for women. Everything that a woman wears is a reflection of who she is. In her piece titled There Is No Unmarked Woman, she writes about her experience and concludes that women cannot escape judgment no matter what they do.

The extent and degree of information and detail written in this article about each represented author and their contributing works can ultimately be seen as one of the articles main strengths. However, although this article gives a vast amount of information on the women’s opinions and beliefs the article at times seems disassembled and erratic. The flow of the article is somewhat hard to follow, and without an increased measure of concentration, the ability of the reader to comprehend and decipher whom the author is speaking of can be lost. Also, with the extensive amounts of information and detail that each female author contributes to the argument, readers are bombarded with data to interpret and distinguish upon. With the author of the article not decisively choosing the strongest points of argument from each author, the information becomes overwhelming and possibly confusing at times.

For example, in one paragraph, speculation as to why “thong underwear is sold to 7 year olds,” or “ padded bras showing up on the racks for 5 year olds,” can raise many opposing views (514). By giving this example, Hanes probably hoped to make readers angry at the marketing establishments and make them reconsider their own assumptions about the morality of the sexualization of young girls. On another note, regarding to gender divisions, Professor Brown, mentioned by Hanes, gives her theory as, “there being no equivalent ‘pink’ for boys” (514). This opens up the concept of, “boys having far more options of how to define themselves,” and ultimately defends the fact that a girl conforms easily to standards - liking pink, wearing makeup, and being skinny (514). This and other similar examples are used by Hanes to elicit emotional responses from her readers, the most likely being anger and

Associate professor Julie Bette at University of California wrote an essay regarding young women views about their gender. In this chapter titled “Women Without Class”, the author, Julie Bette, explores how female teenagers express different version of their femininity. Bette conducts her exploration by observing and interview female high schoolers in small town located in California’s central valley. The tittle “Women Without Class” to reflects Bette’s interest in young women from modest means and low educational attainment, who have low “cultural capital” to enable class mobility.

Throughout European colonization in Canada Aboriginals were pressured to abandon their cultural identity and assimilate into western civilization. Aboriginals had inhabited the land for centuries; Aboriginals had already established their own distinct trade networks, social hierarchies and spiritual beliefs. Canadian colonization threatened the existence of Aboriginal culture; Europeans strove to achieve civilization in Canada and coerced “uncivilized” Aboriginals to adopt a Eurocentric way of life. This paper will argue that, a Marxist critique, of “A Red Girls’ Reasoning” demonstrates the persecution of Aboriginal culture in a Eurocentric society. Christine’s mixed race heritage enables her to play a role as a transgressor of rigid class, race and gender distinctions, representing her struggles as a microcosm of the imbalance between European and Aboriginal culture.

For decades, women have been restrained by societal expectations, limitations of circumstance, and gender-role identity. Citizens and authors alike have challenged traditional beliefs regarding gender and encourage free-thinking and change well into the present day. Change continues to occur throughout the world and across cultures in both

Celine Sciamma’s 2011 film Tomboy both repudiates the idea that gender has an innate basis, as well as suggests the futility of endeavoring to transgress gender norms, due to them being embedded to society, in addition to being internalized by people. In this paper, I will initially elaborate on scenes from the film depicting Laure’s adoption of what would be societally viewed as “male” behaviors, which results in conveying the message that external gendered performance and behavior are not necessarily compatible with one’s natural sex. In other words, Sciamma implies that gender is not inherent, nor is it in immanent conjunction with sex. I will then proceed by commenting on the way in which the film sheds light on the vast paradox that lies

In this essay I discuss that "doing gender means creating differences between girls and boys and women and men...." (West & Zimmerman 2002:13) I am concentrating on the female perspective, how societyputs forth expectations of what is 'natural' or biological even though, in some cases, it can be quite demeaning and degrading. I am using some examples from the local media and also a few childhoodexperiences that have helped me to now strongly suspect that the quote from Simone Beauvoir (1972) "One is not born a woman, but rather becomes one" most likely has quite a bit of truth to it.

To be feminine is to be pretty, sexualized, and passive. “Marked Women” by Deborah Tannen, “Sexism in English: Embodiment and Language” by Alleen Nilsen, and “A Woman’s Beauty: Put Down or Power Source?” by Susan Sontag are three essays that show these negative connotations of femininity. Together, they exemplify that females are “marked” as pretty, sexualized, and passive.

In the words of pop singer and ardent feminist P!nk, “Women have fought so long and hard for our rights and equality, and now all our attention is put on being a size 0.” P!nk’s hit song “Stupid Girls”, released with her 2006 album I’m Not Dead, provides a commentary on society’s perception of a woman’s role and how women respond to that perception. She rejects the foundations of the stereotype that women exist as subordinate to men, while challenging the behavior of women who conform to these societal expectations in order to please men. Although she composed the piece to encourage women to take pride in intelligence, the song has come under critique for “slut-shaming” by stereotyping women who focus on external appearance, labeling them as “stupid”. The piece simultaneously demeans and empowers women, demonstrating just one of the many flaws in the feminist movement that exist today.