The War on Pink

Agatha is one of those people who are strongly motivated to improve society in quaint, sometimes unproductive ways.  For example, she went full bore into the antivax movement, and she can be called upon to participate in any demonstration that is opposed to the current order of things.  She would not mind being a spokesperson if called upon.  However, due either to good luck or the Good Fairy of News Reporters, they have avoided a harangue worthy of Fidel Castro by choosing someone else instead.  She definitely can be said to have the courage of her opinions!

Anyway, I met her and in the second sentence she told me what is on her mind: the frequency of pink toys and clothing for girls!  I did a whoa!  Glad I was not wearing a Hello Kitty tee or clothing in the Pink line from V.S., otherwise I would get an earful, having been identified as among the uninformed, if not a oppressor.  Still, like a moth drawn to a light, I wanted to understand why she saw pink as a problem. 

I was soon appraised of her reasons.  According to Agatha, dressing girls in pink and giving them pink toys sends them a message that they should strive to be cute and ornamental, rather than assertive and effective.  In other words, they grow up to be life-sized Barbies with this artificial gendering!

Well, that can be a problem.  Barbie is the ultimate material girl; and Ken is as interesting as breakfast at McDonald's.  (Brother Mike used to undress my Barbie and dress her in Ken's duds to piss me off.)

I asked her what she was planning to do in response to her qualms about pink.  She trotted out several things:
1) Never buy pink clothes or toys for daughters and forbid them for wearing or playing with pink things.  Avoid pastel shades altogether.
2) Engage in consciousness raising with others over the dangers of pink.
3) Forbid any semblances of the princess role or look.

4) Boycott the Pink Pony Pub in Gulf Shores.  So I go, "But Aggie, you live 200 miles away from that coastal pub!"
5) Join Pink Stinks or other anti-pink groups.
      http://www.pinkstinks.co.uk/
6) Create banners: Pink is represses girls and women, Pink is for guys too.
7) Burn CDs of that album by The Band, Music from Big Pink.
8) Picket for cotton candy to come in colors besides pink.
9) Drink only red or white wines, no rosés!
10)  Wear only red lipstick or none at all: no pink!
11) Boycott pink grapefruit.
12) Eschew pink lemonade and Cosmopolitans.
13) Eat steak that's well done, not rare or medium rare.
14) Never play music by Pink.

I asked, just playing the devil's advocate, whether forbidding girls from wearing pink does also restrict them artificially.  She seemed confused by the idea.  That's the problem with people who are single-minded: they miss the big picture.  Also, could she be underachieving when it comes to indignation?  In the cosmic scheme of things, pink shouldn't be really a biggie.