A long time ago I got into an argument with a friend of mine. I said that piercing the ears of young girls is cruel, and that its primary role (like all things pink and blue) is to clearly display the gender of the baby. Because, heavens to Betsy, we all know that mistaking a baby boy for a baby girl (or vice versa) is the worst thing you can do to offend a new mom!
Anyway, unfortunately, my friend had had her ears pierced when she was an infant. And she (rightly) attacked my tone – it was now her body and her life that we were talking about. But I wish I could have pulled JeongMee Yoon’s photos at the time (I also wish I had known the word “heteronormativity,” but I was pretty out of the loop).
JeongMee Yoon is a Korean artist who has done a series of photographs entitled “The Pink and Blue Project.” Perhaps you’ve seen them before. She asks children to gather together all of their pink and blue things, and photographs them with their collections.
Here are the results:
JeeYoo and Her Pink Things -- The Pink Project -- JeongMee Yoon, 2008
Jimin and His Blue Things -- The Blue Project -- JeongMee Yoon, 2007
I think the best response to these ridiculous displays of gender binaries is from this little girl. You’ve probably seen this linked on some other site, but it’s great. She also looks pretty much exactly like our own resident feminist Ellie Gordon-Moershel, and is complaining about the same gender binary bullshit that Ellie did at her age/still does: