gender – Pike & Hurricane

Pink, blue and gender stereotyping

Nina Kolarzik — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:35:37 +0000

Their favourite colour is pink. They love to wear dresses, they like dancing ballet and cooking. They like flowers more than cars and they enjoy taking care of younger children. Typical girls. We heard these clichés before.

What it means to be a woman and what gender roles are associated with is changing over time. Every generation defines femininity and masculinity. This shows for example in the dressing of children. How did these gender stereotypes become dominant and why is this a problem?

Different times, different colours

Already centuries ago in Europe, colour preferences did exist- but differently than we know it today. Red was seen as a signal colour for masculinity and power and since pink was the “small red”, it was used for young boys. Girls on the other hand were dressed in blue, the perceived colour of the Virgin Mary.

For a long time then there was a gender-neutral way to dress young children: white dresses and long hair for everyone until the age of six or seven. White could be bleached easily when it became dirty and it was a neutral colour: you could not dress the child wrong. Why did this tradition disappear?

Pastel colours started to be used for baby clothing, but not in a gender specific way until the beginning of the 20th century. Shortly before WWI, colours started to become signifiers for gender, but just as suggestions. Others advised to dress children according to their hair and eye colours. The shift to colours was slow, and pink and blue not the primary choices.

The colours we know today were established in the United States in the 1940s. Clothing industries interpreted the preferences of the population to sell as much as possible. Marketing teams created separate, gender-specific clothes and toys that were advertised as “must-have”. The women’s liberation movement of the mid-60s and 70s slowed it down for a bit. Girls were dressed in un-feminine, sporty or even masculine styles. Clothing was seen as a mirror of and responsible for gender role models. The female dress code then supported women’s subservient role. Equal clothing, the movement thought, would bring about gender equality. “If we dress our girls more like boys and less like frilly little girls, they are going to have more options and feel freer to be active.” It was argued that we learn gender through external influences.

Until the 1980s, gender-neutral clothing remained popular. But the market returned to the gender-specific colours and made them more popular. Prenatal testing was a strong accelerator of this development. Future parents could know the sex of their child early and prepare. Through the production of individual and gender-specific clothing and now also toys, more could be sold.

Consumerism and pop culture are main drivers for gender stereotyping until today. Through the success of capitalism, this phenomenon has spread over the globe to various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The reviewed articles all talk about the Western (US/European) context. In other cultural regions, the associations might still be different. But as long as any gender stereotyping exists, then the problem is still the same, no matter the colours.

Being raised in colours- what’s the matter?

“Gender stereotypes are ideas about how girls and boys, women and men are ‘supposed’ to act, talk, think, and behave”. The colours pink and blue are a manifestation of these stereotypes.

Children are given from very early on gender specific toys, when they are not even self-aware of their gender. Around the age of three or four, children start to become more aware. At that age they are impressionable and easy to influence. Market industry is using this in campaigns and advertisements that reinforce the stereotypical social conventions. It becomes visible that children accept the colour preferences they are socialised into. They avoid the colours they are supposed to dislike, they search for things that define them as girl or boy, whilst before they did not show a tendency to gender-specific colours and toys. Subconsciously, girls choose Barbie dolls and wear the pink in order to look feminine.

The way adults treat children affects them. When a kid wears blue and it is assumed to be a boy, people play more physical games with it than a baby dressed in pink, which receives dolls or cooking equipment to play with. Chances and behaviour of children are altered that way. This “blue versus pink” drives gender inequality. They limit the choices of children and hold them back from reaching their full potential.

Same as with colours, there are the clichés of what men and women are suited for, for example in politics: men for leadership and women for social tasks. This is due to the association of men with rationality and women with emotions. There is a pressure to feminine activities or to “be a man”, instead of behaving the way it feels right. This can lead to children being directed to particular interests or careers, just because it is the socially accepted choice.

Women with the leadership style of men are criticised for it, even though they use the same methods. The idea of men not showing emotions or weaknesses leads to some checking less often on their health and suppressing mental issues. Stereotypes affect the mental health, the self-esteem and body image of people. Bullying, discrimination, and other violence, especially towards non-binary people lead to that some do not express themselves fully. Gender stereotyping interferes with the gender children truly feel like. Transgender or gender nonconforming children, that are still raised according to a specific stereotype will be more confused and stressed than children who grew up without constant manifestation of binary genders.

A growing movement today promotes going back towards gender neutrality. Some stores introduce a gender-neutral policy. A whole community does not want to conform, tries to eliminate the stereotypes, demands neutral clothing, to not introduce this binary to kids so early. Boys are dancing ballet too and why wouldn’t girls be able to play basketball?

Bend it like Beckham, girls!

What does it tell us about pink and blue? This dominance could have been exactly the other way around. Or any other colours. The youngest children are attracted by primary colours like red and blue, but studies could not find any preferences. Such preferences are not natural, but a result of capitalism and popular culture, they are constructed and taught to us through socialisation. Gendered colours changed over the course of history. They mirror what femininity and masculinity mean in a society and how gender is understood. Therefore, it is important to call the colours, the stereotypes, the genders into question.

Everyone should have free choices and opportunities, no matter if they are different from the majority. And much that is taken for granted is socially constructed and not natural. Why should there be one colour for one gender? Societies can stop seeing gender as binaries, but look at individuals and support them in a way that everyone can make choices without feeling pressured to fit into a category.

by Nina Kolarzik

Photo credits

Pink Harley Davidson, Daniel Kirsch

Gender Symbol Male Female, Clker-Free-Vector-Images

Intersexuality Symbol,John Hain

Pregnant Lady, Worlds Direction, CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)

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How Techno music can be militant

Aimée Niau Lacordaire — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 17:53:33 +0000

Techno is a form of electronic music that emerged in the United States in the mid-1980s. During the 1990s, techno developed into a real musical culture thanks to the welcome that England and especially Germany had for the artists of Detroit. Militant since its first days, the techno community has always used its influence to defend its vision of a more just and equal world. By relying on a worldwide network of sensitive music lovers and activists, techno has become a musical genre carrying socio-political avant-gardes.

“Daughter of immigrants”

In the 80s, the birth and the impulse of techno and techno clubs in West Berlin contributed to the fall of the Berlin Wall. More and more residents of East Berlin also wanted to be able to listen to and dance freely to the rhythm of techno that they were listening to illegally on Western radio stations. After the fall of the wall techno has also contributed to the reunification of young people from West and East Berlin because they could dance together without worrying about their different identities.

“The techno then releases a promise of freedom that echoes the fall of the wall. Where everyone can create his own universe.”

Techno for the gender liberation

Some clubs are developing the same freedom of techno, especially in Germany and in France. They proclaim a “safe space” where people can be who they want without being judged in particular regarding their sexuality or sexual orientation.

In France, Angel Karel, who is a techno DJ, created The Future Is Female, “a collective propelled by a desire to defend the place of women in the techno scene, hitherto too little emphasis on the local scene in Lyon. This community, in search of a space of freedom to express itself, makes a real turning point for the collective that proposes a first event without any gender rule or identity barrier.“

They organise a “No gender” party, which is a militant and activist, non-conformist event of the french scene, bringing together liberated souls in search of an alternative techno experience in a “safe” space where the rules are respect and tolerance. There, you can be dressed as you wish and free, to not wearing anything without the fear of being judged or touched without consent. Additionally, there is a darkroom where people can go to for privacy where it is forbidden to film or take pictures. This party is rhythm by a brutal and corporal techno, with artistic queers’ performances and only women or queer DJs.

More and more techno DJs are, claim to be politically engaged and militant, for example, Vikken who is a french trans-man and a militant against transphobia. Another example is “La Fraicheur”, a queer DJ and feminist who uses techno to deliver messages, like the speeches of “Angela Davis” in “The movement”. Her speeches denounce racism, homophobia, and transphobia. “Kiddy Smile” is a singer, DJ, producer, dancer and activist for LGBTQ+ rights. He played at Élysée with a T-shirt saying: “son of immigrants, black and gay”. These examples show that music is not only a way to make people dance but also to send strong messages which will make them move in the figurative sense.

These are just a few examples of an ongoing trend. More and more techno nights are queer or/ LGBTQ+ and participants are reminded of the rules (“No racism, homophobia, transphobia or sexism. No touching without asking and no means NO!“) under every facebook event of, for example, the techno club “Ved Siden AF” in Copenhagen.

If techno makes it possible to express who one is and to liberate oneself sexually, it is also a means of conveying political messages.

Techno for justice around the world

Sama is a young woman and the first Palestinian DJ. Her idea is to create “An area of artistic and political freedom”, to allow young Palestinians to forget the sadness of their lives on universal beats. Sama became a famous DJ on the European techno scene, because of her political engagement. In Palestine ,the Israeli state has subjected Palestinians to occupation since 1948, with several disastrous armed conflicts. In September 2018, they created the #DJsForPalestine campaign which marked the climax of this nascent relationship between techno and Palestinian resistance. Behind the hashtag, thousands of world-renowned artists, young DJs and alternative collectives around the world are now expressing their support.

In May 2018, in Georgia, one of the biggest techno clubs called the “Bassiani” in Tbilisi was subject of a big police raid. 200 members of the special forces, armed with machine guns raided the club during a legal event because of the recent drug related deaths of five individuals which the authorities claim are linked to Bassiani. But according to the director of the Bassiani this descent had no basis since none of the deaths occurred at the club. Instead it is believed that the deaths are being used to sustain a Soviet-era political regime. Georgia maintains “extraordinarily strict zero-tolerance drug policies.” Random drug tests by police are common, and small amounts of recreational drugs can get people into prison for years. To protest this, a group of hundreds of young people gathered in front of the parliament, demonstrating against the police operation and for their freedom: “we dance together, we fight together”! The most famous DJs from around the world have sent their support such as: “Ben Klock”, “Nina Kraviz”, or “Dixon”.

In France, on June 21st 2019, a techno fan named Steve Maia disappeared and was found dead in the Loire river after a controversial intervention by the police during a music festival. Every year in Paris, the Techno Parade is held. This year, on the occasion of its 21st anniversary, the Techno Parade wished to mount the sound “in a spirit more than ever militant and claiming“. It stood under the motto “Dance for Steve” and was a tribute to him and a way to protest against police violence and to ask for justice.

And for climate

Finally techno is now at the service of the fight against the climate crisis with some DJs who are engaged on the side of Extinction Rebellion (XR), to protest for a climate justice. For example “Inhalt der Nacht”, a German DJ, or the English duo “Orbital” show their support for Extinction Rebellion by mixing for XR Rave, techno nights to support Extinction Rebellion.

On the 1st November 2019, a Rebel Rave was organised. It was a warehouse party by Extinction Rebellion to celebrate and support the London Rebels who were arrested for showcasing the global climate emergency on the streets of London in April and October this year. All the profits of this event went towards legal aid for rebels awaiting court appearances and prosecution.

As the Palestinian DJ Sama said : “music will not bring peace but it unites people, it makes people think, it helps to understand.“

by Aimée Niau Lacordaire

Photo credits :

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