Chapter 28

PinkStinks

London, England

PinkStinks is an advocacy group and social movement designed to create positive female role models for girls to inspire them to achieve great things.

Twin sisters Abi and Emma Moore launched the group in 2008 to challenge the “culture of pink,” or the pervasive gender stereotyping of products meant for girls. Some of that stereotyping they saw expressed in persistently pink and princess-y stuff intended for girls, whereas toys that promoted adventure and exploration were typically marketed to boys. But there are other, more disturbing examples, too: toys and clothing that sexualize little girls—such as a UK clothing chain selling padded bikini tops to girls as young as seven or a pole-dancing toy marketed by UK retailer Tesco.

“We believe that the media’s obsession with stick-thin models, footballers’ wives, and overtly sexualised pop stars is denying girls their right to aspire to and learn from real role models,” Abi and Emma write on the PinkStinks site (www.pinkstinks.co.uk). “PinkStinks aims to redress the balance by providing girls with positive female role models—chosen because of their achievements, skills, accomplishments, and successes.”

The sisters had a passion to effect change, but—with zero funding—had few resources to devote to the cause.

Content That Ignites

Abi and Emma set about creating content on the cheap to educate their audience and draw attention to their cause.

Blog

Emma, Abi, or Lucy Lawrence—a third member of PinkStinks—create ...

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