A Junior, Angel, India, Sharing views

Mind conditioned Stereotyping #MondayMusings

You deserve flaunting a shiny halo on your head if you’ve never wanted to pull your hair out or wished someone sensible volunteered to help, every time you bought clothes for kids. Not yours, anyone’s.

A bunch of self-absorbed people (men, I’m sure) living in their palace of ignorance some day came up with the unwritten ‘pink is for girls and blue is for boys’ rule. The consequence is the insufferable assault of these two colours in the kids’ wardrobe; especially infants and toddlers.

Granted, other colours make a guest appearance somewhere too, but peoples’ minds are taught to adhere to stereotypes quite willingly. I sometimes wonder if they’re grateful for not having to make a choice. It is always easier to go with mass mentality.

While shopping for A Jr when he was younger, I always looked longingly at the pretty dresses in the girls’ section through the corner of my eye. They seemed too inviting. But now, when I shop for Angel, I almost feel sorry for her for the lack of imagination in them!

A fairy, a mermaid, flowers, butterflies or makeup essentials with a heavy influence of pink, are some of the monopolising items I usually come across. No doubt there are lots of other beautiful choices available too, but the stereotype exists and cannot be ignored. Honestly, boys get more choice than this.

Ironic as it must be, I’ve mentioned before that A Jr loves pink and the I-hate-donning-pins-hair bands-rings-or-any-other-girly-thing Angel seems like a tomboy in the making. Turns out, breaking out of set moulds or getting typecast isn’t that difficult after all. Kids can make the right choices for them if allowed!

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2 thoughts on “Mind conditioned Stereotyping #MondayMusings

  1. I’ve been struggling with this, too. In general, I don’t like pink verymuch, but I’ve been buying “girlie” t-shirts with butterflies and fairies on them for Z out of sheer defiance. He also has “girlie” toys. IMHO, if it doesn’t require the use of genitalia to operate/wear, it’s unisex. Screw convention.

    1. Tell me about it! I didn’t buy a single pink thing for my girl. Whatever she has was a gift I couldn’t refuse. Kids perceive these things, don’t you think? Then they grow up into adults who have an only-for-girls or only-for-boys attitude.

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