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To Think Pink or Not

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To Think Pink or Not
English 101
To Think Pink or Not “Pink Think” by Lynn Peril is an excerpt from the introduction to Pink Think, a book that examines the influences of the feminine ideal. Lynn Peril was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1985. She writes, edits, publishes, and detritus of popular culture, especially that concerning gender-related behavioral instructions. The Author starts off the essay with her thesis saying that the human female is bombarded with advice on how to wield those feminine wiles. For example, once upon a time, young girls were suppose to wear conservative dresses, and get boyfriends in hopes of those very boyfriends becoming their husbands and fathering their children so they may become what was perceived as successful, a mother and housewife. These ideas and concepts were fit to the times that Peril mentions in her essay. She has a very negative outlook on pink think and is trying to persuade the reader to also look at the essay as something negative and wicked. Today, I believe that these stereotypes have indeed changed, and do not exist as much in the world we live in today. However, new concepts and ideas have manifested in today’s world for young women in America. Peril begins this essay with the introduction making the point that women are expected to behave and act the “Pink Think” way. She then goes into stating that the thought of girly things made her form a hatred and it left her feeling awkward and out of place. She gives three specific examples in the next paragraph, which deal with standard behavior to which all women no matter their age, race, or body type must aspire. Peril then goes into detail about how “Pink Think” is a stereotyped vision of girls on how they are suppose to be held to a specific standard. She then states that certain standards of which women must maintain is seeped into the mindset of girls at a young age. She goes into saying that by trying to maintain being an

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