Carol - posted on 04/29/2011 ( 3 moms have responded )
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When I came across the following blog it brought me back to thinking about the J Crew ad uproar and the history of how pink came to be the color for girls, and blue for boys. Why is it so important for a child's gender to be tied to certain colors or tastes?
From the blog by Cathy Hale, titled: Didn't You Get the Memo? Cats Are For Girls. (source below):
As a mom of two boys and two enormous cats, it’s always frustrated me that the world thinks cats are “for girls.” (I assumed I was the only one who noticed this gender bender until I read a post on Jezebel complaining about this very topic.)
You see, pets and their wee owners have been assigned sexes. Boys like dogs and girls like cats. Dogs are blue and cats are pink. Try to find a cat-themed lunchbox, t-shirt, backpack, notebook, wall art, thermos, or beach towel that isn’t pink, encrusted with faux diamonds, purple hearts, and a splash of silver glitter and you, my friend, are out of luck. Sure you could buy a Puma shirt or maybe a Skelanimals lunchbox, but outside of these options, anything with a cat on it is far too prissy for boys, even baby boys.
I don’t want my boys to think there's anything "girly" about guys loving cats. We either need more masculine-looking cat stuff or it needs to be A-OK for boys to carry pink kitty cat backpacks to school. I'm fine with either.
That said, if there's hope for the future, maybe it's NASCAR. Last year, NASCAR gave the rowdiest driver, Kyle Busch, a pink “Kimmy” car. It was was covered in kitties, baby seals, unicorns, and puppies and was so hugely popular, he drove it in a race wearing a hot pink fire suit. Even if you aren’t a racing fan, you have to give them props for breaking welcome new ground on the issue.
Source: http://www.ivillage.com/didnt-you-get-me...
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