from: David
This is Saleena and like most little girls in today's society she likes the color pink. Her parents have chosen an outfit of all pink, the traditional color related to being a girl. It almost seems as if it is a requirement for girls to wear pink in society today. The sandals she is wearing are clearly not hers but perhaps she is wearing them because they are pink or because she wants to be like her mother. Her fingernails are also painted pink, a way her parents are socializing her as a girl. The focus of the photo is on her, and the room around her is very dull in color, making her stand out. She is playing alone in this picture even though there is another child in the room. Perhaps her parents are teaching her to be independent or because the other child in the room is a boy. Saleena could be looking for another girl to play with instead. According to the Women and Gender text book, "throughout their childhood years, children usually play with same-sex peers." She has also favored a pink ball and a red ball to play with instead of the toy car in the background. She is being socialized at a very young age to like the color pink. Pink is really just a color but it is associated with femininity and girls in our culture.
2 comments:
From Michelle
"Aunt Terries says...little girls only wear pink"
This reminds me of a story about my little girl who went to visit my sister Terrie in Kentucky. Terrie is a beautician, she has one child-a boy and does everything to the extreme. Terrie has always wanted to have a daughter of her own. During this visit Terrie treated my daughter, who was about 2 or 3 at the time, like a little princess. She bought her new pink clothes, did her nails, trimmed and styled and hair. She spoiled her rotten! When my daughter returned to her "normal life"-I will never forget her expression as I tried to dress her in an outfit that wasn't pink she looked at me with the saddest little face and said "Mommy, Aunt Terrie says that little girls only wear pink." Needless to say the non-pink outfit went back in the closet and a pink one came out…….this lasted for a very long time and I loved every minute of it! I had waited years to have a pink-little-girl.
Unfortunately, this love of pink only lasted a couple of years because all of a sudden she hated pink----I can remember her breaking my heart with statements like "Mom, pink is too girlie" and "none of the girls like pink anymore Mom" for me it was an end of an era-my little girl was starting to grow up.
My daughter, who is now 13-a teenager, has had this love-hate relationship with pink most of her life---almost as if it were a personal friend.
Luckily, WE (i.e. mom and the color pink itself) are both happy right now, for at the moment she likes pink:)
I like how she has an older persons pink flip flops on. It shows how people that are gendered at that age grow up to still wear the same color. It reminds me of how my neice always stills my high heels and pink purse.
Post a Comment