LEWISHAM: Anti-pink group wants Christmas boycott of Early Learning Centre (From News Shopper)

LEWISHAM: Anti-pink group wants Christmas boycott of Early Learning Centre

8:20am Tuesday 1st December 2009

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AN anti-pink pressure group is calling for the Christmas boycott of a high street giant, accusing it of leading young girls up “pink alleys”.

Fairy wings, princess dresses and even pink globes of the world are all on the hitlist of Lewisham-based group Pinkstinks.

The group wants a boycott of Early Learning Centre, claiming it is one of the worst offenders on the high street when it comes to the “pinkification” of girls’ toys.

Organisers, backed by Lewisham East MP Bridget Prentice, say there is a huge gulf between the types of toys available for boys and girls.

Co-founder Emma Moore, 38, a mother of two girls, said: “Ask yourself what we want girls and boys to learn from an early age. Is it that pink, passive and pretty is for girls and that blue, bold and challenging is for boys?

“Since the early 1990s manufacturers and retailers of children’s products have fabricated restrictive boundaries of what it is to be a girl in today's society.

“As a result body image obsession begins younger and younger and beauty is valued over brains.”

Pinkstinks is enraged by items like the centre's Rosebud house

Ms Moore founded the group with her twin sister Abi, a mother of two boys, after comparing the products available for their children on the high street.

Now the group, which has 2,000 supporters on social networking website Facebook, is targeting Early Learning Centre due to its size and philosophy, which claims to be about helping children be all they can be.

Ms Moore said: “Over the last 15 years or so there’s been a neon pink signpost out there we’ve all been happy to follow. It needs to change.

“We want Early Learning Centre to put its money where its mouth is and to really start encouraging our daughters to be active and happy children instead of passive and preening princesses.”

A spokesman for the shopping chain said: “Come down to Early Learning Centre and see for yourself the huge range of toys in an assortment of colours.

“Customers can choose a red kitchen, a blue kitchen, a blue cash register, a yellow dollhouse or a gorgeous farm.”

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Jon Cheetham, News Shopper deputy web manager says...
9:44am Tue 1 Dec 09

It is certainly true that children express preferences and strong wishes for certain objects from an early age and color is one factor in this process. My two daughters, who are aged three and 18 months, has shown me this much. One thing that has amazed me is the interest the eldest has shown for all things pink and pretty, including high heels, jewelry, tiaras and make up. It is all the more bizarre because her mother doesn’t really go in for this kind of thing, so it is not clear to me where the influence is coming from. I think Abi and Emma might be right to identify cultural and market influences and not least TV. However I can’t agree with their value laden assumption that pink is passive and weak and that blue is strong and positive. Equally it is not enough to say brains and beauty are opposites as this reinforce the kind of cultural stereotypes the Pinkstinks campaigners are fighting against. It is the kind of lazy semiotics made popular by TV academics and intellectuals and really isn’t much help to anyone. There is nothing wrong with girls choosing pink and there is certainly nothing passive about it. My three year old pink fairy princess is also an empire building tyrant who likes to play rugby with the boys and eats her own snot.