[mdisraeli]

Children have no buying power. Parents and guardians actually perform the purchasing, and will only buy items that they consider acceptable. This is governed not just by their own personal values and media consumption, but importantly by the views of their family, friends and peers.

Children themselves are not immune to peer pressure, especially as they get older. They also want to meet the expectations of their parents and guardians. They too consume media, and like all of us make decisions based on both what they are told to want, and what they are told it is acceptable to want

[knowitall]

I suspect most parents hate pink, though - they just give in to the wishes of their daughters.

[rmc]

But very definitely not give into the wishes of their sons who want pink. Parents apply pressure too.

[knowitall]

True :-) More people seem to be concerned about girls liking pink than about boys not liking pink, though.

[rmc]

Boys will physically assault boys who like pink. It'd say that counts as "people concerned that boys don't display their liking of pink".

[knowitall]

Hm, is that a general rule? My son is not yet in school, so I don't know what it is like these days.

Also "like pink" is different from owning the occasional pink thing. I suppose a boy who would dress exclusively in pink would stand out, and maybe the bullies would try to cut him down. Still, I suspect it is not a large scale problem - obviously I don't condone the actions of such bullies, I mean there are probably not that many boys who would prefer to dress all in pink. (I didn't research that, though - in any case everybody should be allowed to like/wear whatever they want).

[rmc]

I don't care if a boy would "stand out" by dressing all in pink. That's not a valid reason for children to beat up children. The problem is not the child who's standing out, the problem is the bully who wants to hurt another person.