Pinkstinks

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Pinkstinks
Motto There's more than one way to be a girl...
Formation 2008
Type campaign
Headquarters London
Founders Emma Moore and Abi Moore
Website www.pinkstinks.co.uk

Pinkstinks is a campaign founded in London in May 2008[1] by twin sisters Emma Moore and Abi Moore[2][3] (born 1971, London)[4] to raise awareness of what they claim is damage caused by gender stereotyping of children.[5][6] Pinkstinks claims that the marketing of gender-specific products to young children encourages girls to limit their ambitions later in life.[1][7][8]

Activities

Pinkstinks has created a listing of "Pinkstinks Approved" companies providing non-gender-specific play and learning products for children.

In 2009 the campaign was reported as urging parents to boycott shops selling pink toys and gifts.[8] In 2010 Pinkstinks criticised Marks and Spencer for labelling underwear aimed at six-year-old girls as "bra tops".[9]

John Lewis, Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury's have responded quickly to criticism by Pinkstinks, removing a "girls" label from a pink Playmobil set and a "boys" label from a science kit[5] and adding non-gender-specific labels to children's nurse and doctor outfits.[10]

Awards and recognition

The campaign's founders, Abi and Emma Moore, won an award in the Women Creating Change category at the 2009 Sheila McKechnie Foundation awards.[11] In 2012 Pinkstinks won the Mumsnet Award for Promoting Body Confidence in Children.[12]

In 2009 Bridget Prentice MP, who was then British Government Justice Minister, backed Pinkstinks' campaign to boycott shops selling Christmas gifts which were aimed particularly at either girls or boys,[7] saying "It's about not funnelling girls into pretty, pretty jobs, but giving them aspirations and challenging them to fulfill their potential".[13] Speaking in the UK Parliament, Lady Morgan, the junior children's minister, said that "it is extremely important that we ensure girls have a chance to play with trucks and trains and wear blue if they look pretty in blue and we shouldn't be defining how young people are looked after by the colour of their toys."[14]

The campaign has also been backed by Ed Mayo, author and former UK government adviser on consumer issues, who said: "I feel this colour apartheid is one of the things that sets children on two separate railway tracks. One leads to higher pay, and higher status and one doesn't."[6] According to Mayo, before World War II pink was more usually associated with boys, while blue – traditionally the colour of the Virgin Mary – was linked with girls.[6] He said: "When you walk into a toy store, as the campaign Pinkstinks has argued, it is as if feminism had never happened."[15]

Controversy

In 2010 The Independent reported that the Ministry of Defence had objected to the inclusion of Kirsty Moore, the first woman Red Arrows pilot, as a role model on the Pinkstinks website and had refused to supply a photograph of her.[16]

In a Daily Mail opinion piece, novelist Amanda Craig confessed to hating pink, but argued that "you can't 'liberate' young girls by banning it. Besides, if you banned pink, there would be a toddlers' revolution. It speaks to their deepest instincts of what is feminine".[17]

International impact

Pinkstinks has attracted attention in other countries[18] and has inspired the setting up of a similar campaign in Germany, based in Hamburg.[19][20]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Katy Guest (18 December 2011). "Girls will be girls: The battle for our children's hearts and minds this Christmas". The Independent (London). Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  2. ↑ Zoe Wood (18 December 2011). "Campaign against pink toys for girls enjoys rosy outlook". The Observer (London). Retrieved 11 November 2013. 
  3. ↑ Susanna Rustin (20 April 2012). "Pinkstinks campaign calls for end to sale of makeup toys to under eights". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  4. ↑ Emma Moore and Abi Moore. "Who we are". Pinkstinks. Retrieved 13 June 2013. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Susanna Rustin (21 April 2012). "Why girls aren't pretty in pink". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Harry Wallop (30 November 2009). "Pink toys 'damaging' for girls". Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Rosa Prince (7 December 2009). "Labour MP: ban shops from selling ‘sexist’ pink toys to little girls". Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "'Pink stinks' campaign urges shop boycott". BBC News. 8 December 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2013. 
  9. ↑ "M&S apologises for selling 'bra tops' to girls aged six". Daily Telegraph (London). 13 May 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  10. ↑ John Plummer (20 April 2010). "PinkStinks: How we took on Sainsbury's – and won". Third Sector (London). Haymarket. Retrieved 3 July 2013. 
  11. ↑ "Winner: Emma and Abi Moore". Women Creating Change 2009. Sheila McKechnie Foundation. 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2013. 
  12. ↑ "Pink Stinks win award". News and learning. Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. 23 April 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  13. ↑ Sophie Freeman (7 December 2009). "Pink Stinks: Parents urged to boycott shops that sell 'sexist' toys for girls". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  14. ↑ "Yesterday in parliament: 8 December session". The Guardian (London). Press Association. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  15. ↑ Ed Mayo (12 June 2013). "Lego people are right to be angry – they have to live with Barbie". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 13 June 2013. 
  16. ↑ Amy Jenkins (24 April 2010). "Amy Jenkins: Will powerful women please stop saying, 'I'm not a feminist, but...'". The Independent (London). Retrieved 20 April 2013. 
  17. ↑ Amanda Craig (8 December 2009). "Like most mums I'm sick of the pink plague, but should Labour REALLY be trying to ban our daughters' favourite colour?". Daily Mail (London). Retrieved 30 April 2013. 
  18. ↑ Finlay MacDonald (13 December 2009). "Pink stinks – let's stop colour-coding our kids". Sunday Star Times (Auckland, New Zealand). Retrieved 11 October 2013. 
  19. ↑ Katrin Schlusen (23 April 2013). "Challenging the colour pink". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 30 April 2013. 
  20. ↑ Hannah Cleaver (24 August 2012). "Pink stinks, says toy marketing campaigner". The Local (Berlin). Retrieved 30 April 2013. 

External links

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