J Crew AD blows gender roles

[QueenBee]

Guess there has been a bit of an uproar over a J Crew ad that blew the crap out of gender roles and stereotypes, with their pink toenails.
So..why the disparity??


If a girl wants to try her hand at baseball or ice hockey, she's likely to be praised as plucky. But if a boy likes the color pink?


Well, that's often a toenail of a different color.

Last month, J. Crew unleashed a furor when a promotion depicted its creative director, Jenna Lyons, painting her 5-year-old son Beckett's toenails with pink nail polish. "Lucky for me, I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink," the caption read

MORE HERE http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps...1105100304

[WolfHouse]

LOL. Should I quit my April Fool's joke of
painting my son's toenails colors in their sleep? (Whatever
toes are peeking out the sheets.) Sometimes it takes
them days to notice it. Just love this trick.

[IMaDick]

Parents are the most fucked up thing in a kids life.

do shit like this and then wonder why your kid turns out screwed up.

[Lady Cop]

and she's going to wonder why he wants to wear a dress and slingbacks to school.

[username]

I don't agree with the calls for protest letters etc. but that sounds like a really stupid commercial. I don't get the "lucky for me, I ended up with a son who likes pink..." marketing approach.

To each their own as far as parenting goes but I wouldn't have wanted my son walking around with pink toenails at 5 if for no other reason than he might be teased so I'd totally discourage it. If he was insistent, I would assume he was gay.

I also don't get this trend towards letting little boys grow their hair past their shoulders. I don't like long hair on men and I don't like it on boys.

Meh. Whatever.

[username]

This bugs me:

One Million Moms, an offshoot of the conservative American Family Association, urged followers to write protest letters to J. Crew and asserted that "nontraditional activities ... can be destructive and damaging to a child's identity and self-esteem."

Say what you really mean...you think gay is contagious.

[Duchess]

"nontraditional activities ... can be destructive and damaging to a child's identity and self-esteem."

That might not be the dumbest thing I've ever read but it ranks up there.

I'm a tomboy girly girl. I've indulged in nontraditional activities my entire life & have still maintained my femininity. It has never affected my self esteem in a negative fashion. I don't see anything wrong with little girls playing with trucks or traditionally male sports & I don't see anything wrong with little boys have a play kitchen. Hahaha! He'll be a famous chef one day.

[kitty1]

I'm glad this topic has come up. My 5 year old son has been interested in the color pink lately. He wants the pink balloon and he wants the cupcake with pink frosting. At first I thought "no big deal", but my husband and I find ourselves instructing him that "pink is for girls". It sounds extremely trivial but we really are stressed about how to handle it. Should we leave it alone or will he continue and want pink bows in his hair. He is, otherwise, all boy...trucks, bugs, mud, farting, etc. I guess I'm afraid because my gay nephew loved everything girly when he was a toddler. He played with dolls and girl toys and loved the whole girl thing. Maybe we're just stressing for nothing. Hopefully he just likes "pussy pink"

[trixie]

You're afraid?? So what if he likes pink, and so what if he turns out to be gay.

[kitty1]

You're afraid?? So what if he likes pink, and so what if he turns out to be gay.

I don't so much care if he likes pink( some men look good in pink shirts), but I don't want him to want to wear pink snow boots or pink nail polish. And I'd rather he not be gay, but if that is what he chooses, I will accept it, of course. I have friends and relatives that have struggled with acceptance because of their choices. I don't want my son to have to go through that if at all possible. Gay people have to put up with so much bullshit. I don't want that for my child. No way!

[thekid65]

You don't paint your male child's toenails, period. Unless its for a costume.

That is all.

[sally]

Why do people have to make such a big deal out of every fucking thing, just tell the kid that only girls paint their toenails and wear pink dresses and thats that.

[WolfHouse]

Hmmm. Don't you think making an issue out of the pink thing is just going
to reinforce it? Make a color chart and show him the other colors in the
family. Have your husband show him how to adjust the color on the computer.
Make some play dough and give him the colors to make the play dough
colored. I would start emphasizing all colors and it more than likely will
go away. Also, think back and see if he has a pattern of liking things for
a period of time in the past.

I had a niece who at 4 would not answer to her name for a year. She was the
wicked witch and talked like her. It drove her grandparents crazy. She
got over it and does not even recall it now.

My guess is that the love of the color has something to do with a 'thing' he
has seen that is pink and the color makes him happy at that moment. Did
you wear pink sometime when he was really really happy to see you? Did
a babysitter who he likes wear pink? Did he have a particular piece of cake
with pink icing or did he go to a party where there were pink candles? I
am guessing the joy just relates back to something in his life that made
him happy. (Like the smell of bread makes me.....smile.)

[kitty1]

Hmmm. Don't you think making an issue out of the pink thing is just goin
to reinforce it?

We haven't made an issue out of it..yet and I realize that we shouldn't. I'm simply not going to encourage it. He's just a kid who likes the color pink right now I guess. It's like so many other behaviors he has exhibited...they're just a phase and he moves on to the next. BTW.. did you suggest that my husband show him colors on the computer because I'm challenged in that area

[WolfHouse]

Hahahaha....no, I was just trying not to put all the responsibility on your
shoulders. Personally I think he should make the play dough. ROFL

[QueenBee]

OK, but why is it we seem to find it OK when our girls want to wear only "boy clothes", wear their hair short, are tomboys and play in or desire what we consider "boy" childhood roles..we do not bat an eye. When I was a kid, my favorite color was blue..so my parents painted my bedroom walls blue, no questions asked. But I would suspect that if one of my brothers announced HIS favorite color was pink, and he wanted pink walls....my parents would have said no because pink is a girl color. So, who made that decision anyway? What if the tradition boy girl colors were..Oh I don't know...yellow and green?? Is it because someone, somewhere decided for us that pink was for girls and blue was for boys??

[Adub]

I think the add is cute.

[thekid65]

Masculine stereotypes are much stronger than feminine stereotypes...simple as that.

[Adub]

And pink toenails will not make a boy a homosexual.

[WolfHouse]

Well, you could always change pink to one of the foreign words
for it. I sort of like the Indonesian one.

Turkish - pembe
Danish - lyserod
Icelandic - bleikur
Irish - bandearg
Indonesian - warna merah muda