http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/lego-friends-girls-gender-toy-marketing_n_1206293.html#s608563&title=Cabbage_Patch_Kids
and thought I had better give it a quick read because it feeds right into what I've been trying to wrap my brain around lately. It's the "Princess vs. Robot" debate. Sort of. But different. I think. Or at least it sent my brain in an ever so slightly different spin...
I have often been angered by the pink trap. I recall vividly walking through Babies 'R Us and being utterly amazed by the rows and rows of otherwise gender-neutral toys that had been "pinkified" for no obviously good reason. Every toddling toy you could think of had been rendered in shades of pinks & purples. I remember specifically the good 'ole popcorn popper push toy & the plastic stacking rings that EVERY toddler must have. At the time I remember being 50/50 disgusted with the need to turn everything pink AND with the obvious question "what if my second child is a boy?" (which - I know - brings up a whole new set of questions like "so what? can your boy baby NOT push a pink popcorn popper?") Why is it that my beautiful baby girl was supposed to suddenly become color blind to everything but pinks & purples.
I don't remember ever being that infatuated with pink myself. I remember loving yellow. My bedroom was painted half yellow with the other half covered in wallpaper of butterflies. Yup - very girly - but not pink. And when I got older and decided that yellow was "so yesterday" I opted for blue. I don't really recall pink being THAT big of a deal as I was growing up. Perhaps memories fade with time...
Leaving alone for a moment the "dangers of Barbie" and the horrid things that "they" have done to Strawberry Shortcake, etc. (I think I'll delve into my thoughts on that topic in another post down the road) I thought I'd wander through my girls' playroom to see what traps we had fallen into without realizing. I went looking for otherwise gender-neutral items that had been "pinkified". I'm pleased to report that I didn't find MUCH. They have basic building blocks in the whole rainbow of colors (which they love), they have puzzles featuring wildlife & bugs, planes & trains, dinosaurs. Their stuffed animal bins are overflowing with everything from the basic teddy bear to a stuffed octopus, lobster, monkeys, even a turkey. All of which are colored "appropriately". Yes, they have a whole army of baby dolls (again - a topic for another day) but their play kitchen is gender neutral (purchased by Grandma and if I recall correctly, she and I discussed in advance that I preferred a kitchen that was NOT pink and flowery). I found two things that ALMOST made me feel guilty. I found a very flowery, pink kickball and I found the "pinkified" LEGOS. No, not the LEGOS referenced in the attached article but just your basic LEGOS which happen to be in girly shades and happen to include a horse, flowers and "castley-looking" windows. What makes me feel better about these items - the kickball was found in a bin stocked FULL of balls that were blue, red, orange...and while this kickball WAS the largest, it was certainly not in the majority in terms of appearance. And the LEGOS - well - my daughter loves to build with her big, interlocking blocks but seemed ready to graduate to the next level with the smaller LEGOS. I really wanted to foster that love for building - wanted to make sure that she didn't suddenly deem it a "boy" activity...so I fell deep into the trap and bought pink. 
All in all - in terms of toys that should otherwise be gender neutral, I feel like we've done a fairly bang-up job of keeping things less pink and more rainbow colored! Score one for us?!
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