A long time ago I got into an argument with a friend of mine. I said that piercing the ears of young girls is cruel, and that its primary role (like all things pink and blue) is to clearly display the gender of the baby. Because, heavens to Betsy, we all know that mistaking a baby boy for a baby girl (or vice versa) is the worst thing you can do to offend a new mom!
Anyway, unfortunately, my friend had had her ears pierced when she was an infant. And she (rightly) attacked my tone – it was now her body and her life that we were talking about. But I wish I could have pulled JeongMee Yoon’s photos at the time (I also wish I had known the word “heteronormativity,” but I was pretty out of the loop).
JeongMee Yoon is a Korean artist who has done a series of photographs entitled “The Pink and Blue Project.” Perhaps you’ve seen them before. She asks children to gather together all of their pink and blue things, and photographs them with their collections.
Here are the results:
JeeYoo and Her Pink Things -- The Pink Project -- JeongMee Yoon, 2008
Jimin and His Blue Things -- The Blue Project -- JeongMee Yoon, 2007
I think the best response to these ridiculous displays of gender binaries is from this little girl. You’ve probably seen this linked on some other site, but it’s great. She also looks pretty much exactly like our own resident feminist Ellie Gordon-Moershel, and is complaining about the same gender binary bullshit that Ellie did at her age/still does:
Tags: Gender, gender binaries, HETERONORMATIVITY
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This is more of a Western phenomenon. Although it’s caught on elsewhere, it’s not as established in other cultures. I grew up largely without these gender associations with pink and blue.
Ah yes, Komal–but I venture to guess that even without the pink/blue binary, there were other, equally ubiquitous and equally enforced gender instructions given to all boys and girls in your culture. Yes?
As a midwife, it never ceases to amaze me that even among the more progressive/feminist of my clients, the gender training is indeed very important for their babies! At least insofar as blankly accepting their friends/relations imposition of heteronormativity in terms of clothing and other gifts for baby. When it comes to the more traditionally sexist families, well you can guess that gender enforcement is all the more important even for their newborns. Can’t be dressing that little boy in pink or even yellow! Or that baby girl in blue or green. Someone might forget it’s a girl or boy, fergoshsakes!