Pinkstinks

Pinkstinks has created a listing of "Pinkstinks Approved" companies providing non-gender-specific play and learning products for children.[10] In 2009 the campaign was reported as urging parents to boycott shops selling pink toys and gifts.[9] In 2010 Pinkstinks criticised Marks and Spencer for labelling underwear aimed at six-year-old girls as "bra tops".[11] John Lewis, Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury's have responded quickly to criticism by Pinkstinks, removing a "girls" label from a pink Playmobil set and a "boys" label from a science kit[6] and adding non-gender-specific labels to children's nurse and doctor outfits.[12]

The campaign's founders, Abi and Emma Moore, won an award in the Women Creating Change category at the 2009 Sheila McKechnie Foundation awards.[13] In 2012 Pinkstinks won the Mumsnet Award for Promoting Body Confidence in Children.[4]

In 2009 Bridget Prentice MP, who was then British Government Justice Minister, backed Pinkstinks' campaign to boycott shops selling Christmas gifts which were aimed particularly at either girls or boys,[8][14] saying "It's about not funnelling girls into pretty, pretty jobs, but giving them aspirations and challenging them to fulfil their potential".[15] Speaking in the UK Parliament, Lady Morgan, the junior children's minister, said that "it is extremely important that we ensure girls have a chance to play with trucks and trains and wear blue if they look pretty in blue and we shouldn't be defining how young people are looked after by the colour of their toys".[16]

The campaign has also been backed by Ed Mayo, author and former UK government adviser on consumer issues, who said: "I feel this colour apartheid is one of the things that sets children on two separate railway tracks. One leads to higher pay, and higher status and one doesn't."[7] According to Mayo, before World War II pink was more usually associated with boys, while blue – traditionally the colour of the Virgin Mary – was linked with girls.[7] He said: "When you walk into a toy store, as the campaign Pinkstinks has argued, it is as if feminism had never happened."[17]

In 2010 The Independent reported that the Ministry of Defence had objected to the inclusion of Kirsty Moore, the first woman Red Arrows pilot,[18] as a role model on the Pinkstinks website and had refused to supply a photograph of her.[19]

Pinkstinks has attracted attention in other countries[20] and has inspired the setting up of a similar campaign in Germany, set up in 2012 and based in Hamburg-Eimsbüttel.[21][22][23]

• Feminism in the United Kingdom
• Gender neutrality
• Gender polarization
• Gender stereotypes
• The LEGO Group – Gender equality
• Let Books Be Books
• Let Girls Be Girls
• Let Toys Be Toys

• Olivia Solon (22 May 2015). "Pink Stinks: Why Technology Companies Need To Stop Patronising Women". Huffington Post. Retrieved 9 April 2016.

• Official UK website
  • Pinkstinks video: "There's more than one way to be a girl", 2011
  • Pinkstinks video: "SLAP – On the face of Childhood", 2012
• Pinkstinks Germany
• Girls Out Loud: creating shining stars
• Let Toys Be Toys
• Pigtail Pals
• Princess Free Zone