Gender Lens (Rant Piece)

Razors for men, razors for women; pens for men, pens for women; soap for men, soap for women. There are things that are just for boys and things that are just for girls, things that are for him and things that are just for her. We have ridiculous advertisements for unnecessarily gendered items. The only difference is the color and pattern; the product is completely the same. When walking down the toy aisle there’s a microscope set for girls. The only obvious difference is that the girls’ microscope set is purple because, you know, a color may impact the ability for a girl to use a microscope.

I don’t get it. I don’t understand why girls are supposed to wear pink and why boys are supposed to wear blue. We’re shown from a young age through television, movies, books, magazines, and so many other forms of media that girls are supposed to like the color pink and boys are supposed to like the color blue. Girls play with pink toys and pretty toys; they’re deemed “girl toys” and consist of Barbies, dolls, and dress-up outfits. Boys play with blue toys and rough toys; cars and trucks, dinosaurs, and superheroes.

While blue is a color that is supposed to represent boys, for some reason boys aren’t supposed to feel the color blue or at least show they’re feeling blue. Men are taught to mask their emotional side. If any vulnerability is shown, men are suddenly weak. Men aren’t supposed to share their insecurities, struggles, or fears with one another; it would only show how weak they are. We wouldn’t want that because women are weak and vulnerable, not men. Men are the ones with a power status while women are powerless. We are taught that girls are weak and boys are strong.

I’ve enjoyed witnessing the small changes to gender expectations. I found myself recently inspired by a TEDTalk given by Justin Baldoni encouraging men to embrace their feminine side, to embrace their emotions and to share them. And while I hate to admit it, I feel a twinge of jealousy at some of the toys girls are given today – Barbies with actual careers (scientists, doctors, teachers) and American Girl Dolls that are Italian and going to Mars, toys that were never at my disposal to inspire me and tell me I can be whatever I want to be. While I was always told that, it was never shown to me through toys I played with.

Growing up, I had a purple room with flower curtains and bed sheets. My favorite color was blue, but I couldn’t have a blue room, only boys had blue rooms and girls had pink rooms or purple rooms. I’m sure the media installed this in me, when thinking of shows I watched and the female characters, their bright pink rooms and big closets filled with pink clothes. Let boys play with dolls and let girls play with cars, let boys like the color pink and girls like the color blue. Let us deconstruct these gender specific expectations we’ve created as a culture and realize this is all just a social construct.

JeongMee Yoon’s “The Pink and Blue Project”