When I was a child, little girls did not wear pink all the time. I was a child of the 70s, so orange was the dominant tone of my childhood.
When did pink take over? Little boys don’t have to wear blue all the time. Why should little girls have to wear pink? My loving husband would be the first to point out that when the Princess was a baby, I went out and bought a range of pink things. Well, I’m tired of it now. I note that in Belgium, pink does not dominate in the same way as in Ireland though after spotting a number of girls in hot pink at the foire du midi this afternoon, I may have to reconsider. I am informed that in Italy, it is not uncommon to dress baby girls in black. Trendy but a little alarming, I imagine. I bet they get through a lot of pink all the same.
Is it all Walt Disney’s fault? Is it easier to market to little girls, if everything is pink? Is there a conspiracy? Do I only care because my daughter looks better in blues and greens?
Weighty questions for a Saturday evening while my husband is off emptying out his office. Rather ominously, he feels it will take all evening. Where will we put everything?
In a related packing question, my husband and I were discussing what we would take with us in the car rather than leave to the mercy of the movers. “Only important things” we agreed.
“Like the family photo albums,” I said.
“Like my degrees,” he said simultaneously.
This neatly sums up some sexist assumptions. I don’t even know where my degrees are, I should have left them in Cork with my mother where they were safe. Maybe I should wear more pink.
