Pink is for girls. Peggy Orenstein, who brought us works including “Cinderella ate my Daughter” , visited UNIS Hanoi on the 9-12^th April and dissolved these gender stereotypes which affect students in their lives so often without them realizing it. Not only confident and interesting, she was also well informed with a wealth of surprising facts which shocked parents, teachers and students alike.

Pink was not originally for girls. In fact the lighter shade of red was deemed more masculine as it symbolized power, whereas blues were demure and therefore far more appropriate for females. It is thought that this changed when the Nazis branded homosexual men with a pink triangle.

Orenstein spent class times with middle school students who learnt about the power of the media and their effect in giving young girls a negative body image. Students were stunned by the excessive amounts of distortion in advertising and magazines such as the Dove evolution video:

Dove Evolution

They found it quite unbelievable that  people aspire to become a shape that is not in fact real. Sorcha Hamer (6^th Grade) said, “I couldn’t believe the adverts weren’t real”. The women in advertisements are completely unrealistic idols for young women.

Parents also learnt about the pressure to achieve which girls as young as 9 are suffering from as they try to reach the perfection which surrounds them. Girls deserve equality, yet as she explained often don’t reach their potential in certain classes (such as mathematics) where they are quashed by their male counterparts (whose loud voices are accepted as part of masculinity).

Teaching about strong female idols such as the Greek goddesses and Margaret Thatcher as well as drawing graffiti onto false advertisements empowered the UNIS girls so hopefully they will become leaders of our society instead of ‘Drippy Disney Princesses”.

For more information look at her website: http://peggyorenstein.com/