Ban make-up kits for under eights say Pink Stinks

I have recently discovered the Pink Stinks campaign. They are a group of individuals, mainly mothers, who are staunchly against any products, media and marketing that prescribe heavily stereotyped and limiting roles to young girls.

They believe all children are affected by the “pinkification” of girlhood and their aim is to challenge and reverse this growing trend.

Initially I thought to myself, where do I sign up.

It was actually their latest campaign to ban make-up toys geared at under eights that got me thinking a bit more about this issue.

Currently there are over 29 make-up kits geared at children available to buy. Some are geared at under eights while others are specifically labelled as suitable for children as young as three. Brands like Hello Kitty and Disney all have their versions and stores like Boots, Superdrug and John Lewis stock them.

There are two opposing views to this argument. The first is that children naturally mimic their mums and all too often delve into mum's make-up bag and destroy all her expensive make-up. Therefore, why not buy these children their own make-up kits, which it does not matter if they destroy, with the added peace of mind this toy make-up is safe for them to swallow and will wash off easily.

The opposing view, which is the one Pink Stinks is trumpeting, is that buying girls these make-up kits at such a young age only opens them up to a life-long slavery to the beauty industry. It breeds self-doubt over how attractive they are and also sexualises them at far too young an age.

My head is with Pink Stinks on this one. I have cried out in despair at adverts for Lelli Kelly shoes on the TV. For those who have not seen them, Lelli Kelly is a shoe company geared at junior school aged girls who give away free make-up kits with their shoes. There is no way I would allow my daughter to own these shoes and their resulting free make-up no matter how much she begs me, I have stated.

But then there is my heart. I remember being given old stumps of lipstick by my mum to play with and tester perfume bottles to dab on my own tiny wrists. It was a part of growing up and trying out new ideas. In many ways I think girls are losing their sense of femininity and it is these little things in youth which help set you up to be far more ladylike in the future. We are now a nation of ladettes.

But then I stop again and consider. I can't help thinking there is a real difference between a little girl, or boy, sitting with mum and playing with mum's lipstick and them sitting on their own in front of the mirror with their own specially bought make-up kit, especially at the age of three.

This changes the whole situation from just being about play to being far more about instilling in children from a young age that it is important what they look like. It moves it away from copying mum to something they do in their own right.

Once make-up is introduced at this age, it is most likely going to stay. It will become a constant in a child's life and rapidly move from a toy to an essential tool to make a little girl feel prettier.

There are also the parents who are not able to make informed decisions about this subject. They will simply see the labels on the products, 'suitable for three-year-olds' and think it is okay to buy it for their tiny child.

Pink Stinks does have an extreme outlook on this issue but I do think it is needed to balance and moderate the opposite point of view, that it is okay for very young children to sit in front of a mirror and focus on their appearance, a view which is in danger of saturating today's society, if it hasn't already.

What we need to aim for is a happy medium. Parents need to balance their little girl's desire to look pretty, with games and toys to encourage her other talents and attributes. At the same time safeguards do need to be put in place to prevent less-informed parents falling into a marketing trap. Because of this I would say make-up kits aimed at children under eight should be banned and therefore I would back Pink Stinks on this. This does not mean a four-year-old can't play around with an old lipstick tube and smear it around their mouths trying to be like mum. That's just part of growing up.