Strollerderby : Pink

Toys R Us Can't Be Serious. But They Are.

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Thu, 21 May 2009 20:30:00 GMT

Does your daughter have a burning desire to play Ouija board? But clearly she can’t since the game is totally for boys? Well, for only $19.99, you can make your daughter’s dream come true, because Hasbro just came out with a new “just for girls” Ouija board!

What makes this edition different from the original Ouija board that can be handmade in minutes? I’ll give you one guess. You got it: It’s pink!

Not only that, but this new edition also comes with 72 question cards, since a big problem for young girls is that they always freeze up when it’s their turn to ask a ghost a personal question about their lives.

According to the product description, girls needn’t worry their pretty little heads any longer:

It has always been mysterious. It has always been mystifying. And now the OUIJA Board is just for you, girl. With 72 fun questions included, you'll never run out of things to ask. Who will call/text me next? Will I be a famous actor someday? Who wishes they could trade places with me?

Who would have guessed that a splash of pink is all it takes to get the catty, boy-crazy girl ghosts to spill the beans?

You might be interested to learn that the game is marketed for girls between the ages of eight and twelve. Now third graders don’t have to worry whether that “special someone” will send them a text. They can just ask a dead person! Progress never looked so good.

Image: AV Club

Adolph Hitler and Your Little Pink Princess

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:45:00 GMT

The BBC has an interesting story on the impact the color pink can have on a girl, but what I found truly amazing in the story was the role reversal colors have undergone in the previous 100 years.

According to the story, in the early 1900s, pink was the preferred color for boys while girls were adorned with blue, which was considered the paler, more delicate shade on the color spectrum. Go shopping for kids clothes today, as you probably well know, and you'll hit rack after rack of princessy pink crap for the girls and rack after rack of cool grays and blues for the boys.

But I digress.

Hitler. I was just getting there. So where does he come in?

Apparently he's to blame for the role reversal of colors and gender. According to the story, when he shipped gays and lesbians off to concentration camps, he ordered the ones who could be "cured" to have a pink triangle attached to them. And soon the color became one and the same with femininity.

And Barbie.

But what damage has this caused? Well, one expert said it's severely damaging to little girls, thwarting their independence by forcing them to conform to the girl-centric notion that pink is the only cool. Another expert basically shrugged his shoulders and said, "eh, whatever."

I'm in the latter camp. Pink as a color rocks. I think it goes exceptionally well with brown. Am I going to fill my daughter's closet with it? Of course not. Am I going to be peeved when she tries to do that herself one day? As long as she dresses herself, I could care less.

[Thanks to DaddyTypes for the story.]

Girly Gift Guide

Brett Singer — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 20:00:00 GMT

Not sure what to buy for the precious little girl in your life? Princess Loves Pink feels your pain. Well, maybe they don't feel your pain, but they want to help. (They may, in fact, feel your pain. But let's not jump to conclusions.)

This new site offers "gifts, reviews and ideas for all things princess", and it basically delivers. Browsing options include Shop by Princess (Ariel, Barbie, etc.), By Item (Books, Clothes), or By Price – very helpful in the current economy. Start with Gifts under $5 and, if the wallet allows, move all the way up to Princess Splurge.

There are even some "I never thought of that" ideas, such as this box of all-pink crayons.

Although one could take issue with the notion that "girls like pink princessy things", in my experience, many of them do. As a father of boys, I am flummoxed when the time comes to shop for a little girl that is into more traditionally girly items. So PLP could be useful for parents of girls, or anyone else who can't tell Cinderella from Sleeping Beauty.

Source: Princess Loves Pink

Daughter's Homework Assignment Leads to Presidential Pardon for Dad

They Say: Black Friday Will Be Gray

Students Suspended for Hair Dyed Pink in Honor of School Nurse's Battle with Breast Cancer

JeanneSager — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:27:00 GMT

It was a rare show of selflessness for a bunch of middle school students, but showing up with strips of pink in their hair last week earned a dozen Indiana pre-teens suspension. The kids said they were doing it in honor of the school nurse who recently passed away after a battle with breast cancer.

Their parents are refusing to make the kids wash the pink out of their hair, but the school is firm. Dyed hair, says the principal, is distracting.

No doubt the kids went about their impromptu remembrance - which for some kids was also a tribute to moms who've fought the battle and won - the wrong way. If you know hair dye is against the rules, why not slip on pink armbands or wear pink ribbons in your hair? Maybe approaching administration with the plan to begin with would have enabled a school-wide dispensation for the day to honor a faculty member who teachers must be mourning as well. Interviewed on camera, the principal expressed his regret for having to stick to the rules - he thinks it's a good idea. But the rules are the rules - no dyed hair.

You can't fault a principal for requiring every kid follow the same rules. But you can fault the rule.

It's just hair. Is it distracting in the morning when a kid shows up with blue hair? Yes. But show me something that won't get a bunch of hormonal pre-teens riled up. Exactly. Do we have to worry about kids flashing gang colors in schools today? Unfortunately, yes. But tell me how it's any different to have it in a hair streak than a barrette. It's just hair, which I'd rather kids were talking about then picking on the fat kid or spreading rumors that turn a girl into the class slut. It's just hair, which I'd rather my kid were playing with than drugs, booze or guns to get my attention.

When kids want to get attention, I'd like to see them doing it in positive ways - like joining up to dye their hair pink for breast cancer awareness. So maybe we could stop telling kids what they can't do and start telling them what they can do?

Image: WSBT

Teenager Arrested For Kiddie Porn - The Pictures Were of Herself

Gym Teacher Likes Girls A Little Too Much

Part II: Why Parents of Boys Have It Better (And Why They Don't)

Halloween Costume Confession: Why it Pays to be the Cheapskate Mom

Saggy Mom Boobs Get a Lift! Carry It Off with the Cleavage Caddy

Morning News: Despite Damning Report, Palin Says 'See, I've Been Cleared!'

5 reasons it's a good thing I had boys

Brett Singer — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:05:00 GMT

I was going to say, "I'm glad I have boys" but that didn't sound quite right. That is, I would love girl-children just as much as I love my guys. But there are a few ways that having boys has made my life – mine, specifically – a little bit easier.

1. No pink ponies: It doesn't seem like having a Y chromosome should automatically mean that one is interested in superheroes, videogames, and action figures inspired by superheroes and videogames. But experience says otherwise. While there are definitely girls who love trucks and boys who follow the Frasier and Niles Crane path – a love of opera, Broadway and snappy clothing – my guys are way into Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Pokémon, Wii, Playstation 2, and so on. If I had to learn whatever there is to know about My Little Pony, I think my brain would crawl out of my ear.

2. Miley-free zone: Thus far Things 1 and 2 have shown zero interest in Billy Ray Cyrus' little ~~meal ticket~~ girl, which means I can continue to go through life knowing almost nothing about her. Maybe this will change when they get older, but hopefully by then Miley Ray Hannah Montana Stewart Cyrus will have either pulled a Britney Spears and had a meltdown, grown up and started singing jazz standards, or retired to spend her days sitting on a giant pile of cash gazing longingly at Nick Jonas. OK, I guess I sort of know something about her, but that's just from trying to keep up with pop culture. I have nothing against Miley or the Jonases, but not having to listen to their music or attend their concerts is something I will never, ever complain about.

3. No batting of eyelashes: My wife has pointed out many times that if we had had girls, odds are I would be putty in their hands. I wish I could say I disagree but I think she's probably right. Little girls are so cute, and seeing them cry is much more painful than seeing boys cry. I know that's stupid, sexist, and stupid (did I say that one already?). But I've seen, more than once, little girls who lead their dads around by the nose. It's probably best if we never find out whether or not I would join their ranks.

4. Less irrational over-protectiveness: Again, I am fully aware that this is unfair, stupid and sexist. But if I had girl-children, I would be very tempted not to let them leave the house until they were 30. I guess going to school would be OK, as long as they dressed like those Mormon sect people.

5. No High School Musical: When this monstrosity first started airing on the Disney Channel and the CD went to number one, I tried to watch it out of curiosity. I made it through about 15 minutes before I realized that it would probably be more fun to chew glass. The songs are lame, the characters are dull, the story is… Feh. Anyway, the boys seem immune to whatever charms that thing has, and for that, I am grateful.

image: Amazon.com

They say: Sarah Palin should step down

Sarah Silverman says: make granny vote for Obama

Palin should read Internet for Dummies

Stuff my 3 year old broke

More stuff my 3 year old broke

Dad arrested for leaving son at McDonald's

Red eye? Nope, eye cancer

Creepiest spam message ever: "we have hijacked your baby"

Lego Metallica

11 months old, 62 pounds

Babies R Us tells breastfeeding mother to get out

Volleyball hasn’t come a long way, baby

Shawn Johnson more mature than her coach

Shawn Johnson, Democrat? (UPDATE: Now with video)

Get Your Girl Into Hunting With a Pink Gun.

Kelly Mills — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:30:00 GMT

In a bid to make shooting more appealing to the girls and ladies, some gun stores are now packing pink guns. They call it, "blaze pink" and the color tickled the pre-teen girls in this article. I'm still looking for a gun that doesn't make me look fat, but pink is okay. Because I've wanted to get into shooting, but you know, the guns are so dull and drab and butch. A splash of color seems just the thing to brighten the cold hunting palette. Why, it's the perfect accessory! Check out the details, dahlings: "The .22-caliber Crickett rifle ($169.99) has a bright pink stock, and the Remington Express Jr. .20 gauge shotgun ($379.99) has a laminated pink-and-black stock emblazoned with the slogan 'Shoot like a girl if you can!'" Aw yeah. And as Mike reminded me, "Pink guns don't kill people, girls do."

Okay, all mocking aside for just a second, I do understand the appeal of pink guns, and it has less to do with what gun store owner describes by saying, "Females want to shoot guns, but they want them to look pretty, too." I don't think it's the beauty factor that is so appealing. See, while I'm not exactly stocking an arsenal, I do desperately want pink boxing gloves. Why? Because I love boxing, it's a traditionally masculine thing, and the idea of someone catching my hot pink right hook seems cheeky. Sort of, "Yeah, I'm female. Now don't drop those hands." I'm getting my kid pink gloves too, the minute she starts whacking people in earnest. I suppose if I was into firearms, I'd get a pink one. Especially after reading about the horrified gun store owners who scoff at them. But if you hate firearms, there's always this hairdryer with the same appeal. Shoot me if my hair doesn't look good.

Girls Really Do Like Pink. I Have Proof.

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:54:00 GMT

I was always a firm believer in the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture argument. I say I was because I fully subscribed to that theory until I had boy/girl twins.

Sure, boys like baby dolls and girls like trucks too, but my daughter feeds her baby dolls and my son throws his down the stairs. Ian drives around his trucks and makes loud noises and has his truck crash into things and occasionally take off into space. Claudia puts little stuffed animals on the truck and makes them drive to birthday parties or the grocery store.

I wish I was making that up, but I'm not. My boy says his favorite color is blue and my girl says her favorite color is pink.

Time just published an article that shows that while all people tend to like blue, women (and girls) seem to prefer the redder shades of blue. It might stem back to hunter gatherer days when the women needed to be able to spot the berries, or it may be tied into the need for mothers to recognize when their child has a fever.

There is other science involved too. Something about the red/green axis and Chinese people blah blah blah. The point is that if you are wondering why your little girl will only wear pink dresses you may not be able to blame society or her kindergarten classmates. It is evolution.

Hello Kitty Shames Cops

Kelly Mills — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:24:00 GMT

Police officers in Thailand are experiencing a unique punishment for rule violations like parking illegally and being late. The cops are required to do desk jockey work and to wear pink Hello Kitty armbands at the station. "'Simple warnings no longer work. This new twist is expected to make them feel guilt and shame and prevent them from repeating the offense, no matter how minor,' said Pongpat, acting chief of the Crime Suppression Division in Bangkok." That is, unless the officers happen to be Hello Kitty fanatics.

Interesting that the enigmatic, mouthless cat of a thousand outfits will now be a scarlet 'A' on the biceps of Thailand's police force. The officers won't have to wear the armbands in public, which seems like a real shame to me. I am enamored with the idea of being pulled over by a guy with a hot pink Kitty armband. And by the way, should the senior officers run out of Hello Kitty likenesses, we have a crapload at my house I wouldn't mind seeing put to good use. As always, thanks boing boing!

Pink Genes Are For Girls

Kelly Mills — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:32:00 GMT

Are girls hard-wired to be all into pink and princesses? If you are looking for the answers, you probably won't find them here. For example:

"The reason why girls like pink is that their brains are structured completely differently to boys," says child psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg. "Part of the brain that processes emotion and part of the brain that processes language is one and the same in girls but is completely different in boys. This explains so much - you can give a girl a truck and she'll cuddle it. You can give a boy a Barbie doll and he'll rip its head off. These differences are hard-wired at birth but you can't take away the cultural conditioning, which helps it along a bit."

Oh. So pink is, um, nurturing? Or about language and emotion? I'm so confused. See, I don't get how the princess thing and the pink thing and the cuddly-emotion thing are one and the same. However, explanations are clearly not part of the recipe of newsflashes in this one. Let me summarize the rest for you. Disney markets the princess thing to little girls! Barbies might or might not be bad for girls! Bratz are too sexualized, and that is not good!

I do love this quote from a Mattel rep, defending Barbie's educational value by citing the company's launch of Barbie and Tanner, her dog that really poos. "You can actually clean his poo up with a pooper scooper, so it teaches them that if they take their dog for a walk, it's good to do the right thing by the environment." Wow. That doll has some really important lessons to share with us. Like "it's good to clean up poo". Sorry, my hysterical laughter is making it hard to write.

While it's hard to take this all seriously, I'd just like to add I find it interesting people somehow think cultural conditioning is this little thing you can just get over easily, while genes are the real deal. We are social animals; our socialization is what makes us human. I'd say that's just as powerful as a gene. Gawd, I'm such a faux-grad student.

Pink Balls For Girls

Kelly Mills — Sat, 05 May 2007 12:10:00 GMT

Thank you Title IX! Target has come out with a line of pink sporting goods like mitts, volleyballs, and basketballs. Presumably these are designed for girls, or boys who are comfortable enough with themselves to adopt a rosier approach to athleticism.

On first glance, it might be tempting to hate on this stuff as going with the stereotype. Why do girls get everything marketed to them as princess pink fairy lacy frou frou? But I look at this equipment, and I see a nice revolution. If a girl is in the oh-so-common pink phase, she might like having a ball that appeals to her color love, and therefore be more into trying a sport. And my long range hope is that with more and more girls participating in athletic endeavors, we'll see some serious improvements in the current palette of black-red-orange-forest green-white-gold that dominates most sports. Where's the lavender? The bronze? The aquamarine? The sky blue? (Note: don't send me examples of pro sports teams that use these colors, because they are the exception rather than the norm.) Maybe we'll start seeing some uniforms that aren't an ugly blend of two colors that shouldn't go together. Down with man colors! Grrrl power!

Besides, being a feminist athlete doesn't mean you can't accessorize well or wear something bright. Tennis has had well-known women players for ages, and even though white ruled the sport for a long time, I love some of the newer ensembles. And when we bought this pink mitt for my daughter's T-ball season, it was a big hit on the field. Kids begged for a chance to use it. Interestingly, some of the boys did refuse to borrow it even though they had forgotten their own mitts and would have to catch bare-handed. Time to come around, young sons, and get comfortable with "girl" colors. You'll be seeing a lot more of us with our hot pink and lavender mitts on the field in the future.

Britney's Breakdown: Suicide Attempt

Karen Murphy — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 15:10:00 GMT

If new reports are to be believed, Britney Spears is continuing to have a difficult time coping even while being attended to in rehab. The latest has her attempting to hang herself from a light with a bedsheet, screaming "I am the antichrist", and scrawling "666" on her head and unintelligible words and scribbles across the backs of her hands.

On a brighter note, Justin Timberlake, Pink, and Brooke Shields have attempted to contact Britney (whose chewed gum you can now bid on at eBay) and leave encouraging messages. Brooke wrote a book two years ago about her own journey with postpartum depression and likely has some good advice. A variety of postpartum mood disorders, including depression as well as the more common "baby blues", strike about 80% of mothers. Meanwhile, K-Fed's behavior continues to be exemplary, with him bringing the boys by for another visit, and now it's being reported that Brit wants yet another baby with him.

Having had four children and having gone through various degrees of mood disorders myself, I cannot imagine how much more difficult the situation is when you're a celebrity. For the sake of everyone involved, especially the babies, I'm still hoping everything turns out all right.