Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The Power Of Pink

Cinderella Ate My Daughter : By Peggy Orenstein

~HYPERLINK POST~

"We can excel in school, play sports, go to college, aspire to- and get-jobs previously reserved for me, be working mothers and so forth. But in exchange we must obsess about our faces, weight, breast- size, clothing brands, decorating, perfectly calibrated child-rearing, about pleasing men and being envied by other women." (page 18)


Caution: Video may be a tad bit revealing for your liking.



*Notice how everything is pink, and flashy. There is tons of  fantasy like music and colors.*


I decided to post up about the Victoria's Secret Pink collection because that is what this article reminded me of. The princesses theme that young girls seem to be so obsessed with, is just like women and this pink collection (in which I am a huge contributor). Peggy Orenstein worries just like all parents about the influences our current culture has on their children. She believes that princesses are a way to keep girls young, and allows little girls to be little girls. Yet it's teaching them about consumerism, and gender stereotypes in the process. Just like Victoria's Secret Pink collection was originally supposed to be for college students. It was supposed to be a practical way to go from lounge, to class, and still look "cute". Yet, these college students who should be saving money to pay off their loans, are spending $30 to $40 dollars on a single pair of spandex yoga pants, that they could get at Walmart for $10. Not to mention the $60 to $80 sweatshirts. There are pro's and con's to these themes, but the idea of the color pink being strictly feminine has not only taken over young girls, but continued into the lives of adults. Victoria's Secret is supposed to amplify beauty,and sexiness. Well in the same way, a consumer can buy from their PINK collection, and fulfill the idea of being pretty just like the princess they always dreamed about being as a child, yet still be looked at as a sexy adult. This markeing tool took the glamorous life of little girls surrounded in pink (stereotype), and infused it with the bold and beautiful name of Victoria's Secret. It was a perfect mix to take any woman's inner princess, and make her an adult queen.

I agree 100% about the influences of princesses on children. Ever since I was little (before I understood divorce rate and income), I wanted to be a stay at home mom, who cooks, cleans, raises the children, and her prince comes home to her after work. The perfect life? Well I had a rude awakening when my mom explained to me that the prince could divorce your ass, and now your a single struggling mother with no income, but hey I still have my apron? Well now what? My mom has always tried to tell me, life isn't always a fairy tale, you won't always get happily ever after. Yet she was the first person to get me into watching the Disney Princess movies. Talk about confusing kids?? This is where I think the problem lies. I think girls can believe in princesses, but they must also understand that the stories are all make believe. And that real life can be very different. Well now I'm in school, aiming towards a career, so I can support myself and my family as I grow older. I can still have my fairy tale ending, but I'm just going to have to be my own royalty I guess.


In class I want to know if anyone else loved Disney Princesses as much as I did? Would you let your kids watch them? When thinking about your childhood, does it include princesses? I'm eager to find out how everyone took to the article. Are princesses innocent or lethal for the little girls in our society? How can we fix these stereotypes and problems involving gender? How can we make the color pink unisex?

2 comments:

  1. I LOVE your connection between princesses for young girls and Victoria's Secret pink line for young women and adults. It's like no matter what age we are, we're being bombarded with this stuff and there's no way to escape it. Awesome post!

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  2. I also enjoyed the connection with Victoria Secret. I cant understand why girls age 7 shopping at Vickys, buying underwear that says sexy on it. I remember my mother buying me plain old cartoon ones. hahaha

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