Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons [Paperback]

Lynn Peril (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2002

From board games to beauty pageants, a smart, witty, pop-culture history of the perilous path to achieving the feminine ideal.

Deluged by persuasive advertisements and meticulous (though often misguided) advice experts, women from the 1940s to the 1970s were coaxed to "think pink" when they thought of what it meant to be a woman. Attaining feminine perfection meant conforming to a mythical standard, one that would come wrapped in an adorable pink package, if those cunning marketers were to be believed. With wise humor and a savvy eye for curious, absurd, and at times wildly funny period artifacts, Lynn Peril gathers here the memorabilia of the era —from kitschy board games and lunch boxes to outdated advice books and health pamphlets—and reminds us how media messages have long endeavored to shape women's behavior and self-image, with varying degrees of success. Vividly illustrated with photographs of vintage paraphernalia, this entertaining social history revisits the nostalgic past, but only to offer a refreshing message to women who lived through those years as well as those who are coming of age now. 8 pages of color, 45 black-and-white illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Books titled How to Fascinate Men and How to Help Your Husband Get Ahead. Hope chests. Home economics courses at the college level. Ah, womanhood. Peril, founder of the zine Mystery Date, devoted to her obsession with old etiquette and self-help books, analyzes these and other marvels in her first book. "Pink think" is "a set of ideas and attitudes about what constitutes proper female behavior," she says, and it "assumes there is a standard of behavior to which all women... must aspire." In casual, friendly language, Peril who shares tales of her own childhood pink think rebellion charts the amusing yet sad history of how women have been conditioned with a set of rules that often begins with someone telling them little girls are made of "sugar and spice and everything nice." A pop culture history of achieving the feminine ideal, the book explores everything from childhood and adolescence to marriage and the workplace. Spurred on by the "Patron Saint of Pink Think," Jayne Mansfield, pink think infiltrated frighteningly numerous aspects of women's lives from the 1940s through the '70s and was often driven by advertisements pitching girls' versions of house-cleaning supplies and feminine hygiene products that counseled women to douche regularly in order to ensure a happy marriage. In an afterword, Peril expresses her dismay at the apparent preservation of pink think today (witness the success of 1995's The Rules and 2001's The Surrendered Wife). Although her book may leave some women thinking, "OK, we've ditched the maternity girdles so now what?" it's hilariously entertaining. B&w and color illus.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Lynn Peril is a secretary and the author of Pink Think, College Girls, and Swimming in the Steno Pool. She lives in Oakland, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 235 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (October 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393323544
• ISBN-13: 978-0393323542
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #75 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential for the thinking woman, November 2, 2002

By 

Basbenee (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons (Paperback)

A fascinating read. The author has a bit of a hobby in collecting examples of 'Pink Think,' or, paraphernalia which encourages women to do groom themselves to be appropriately girly to fulfill their potential (i.e., how girls were brainwashed for decades that their only goals in life should be to snag a husband and to find their true happiness in motherhood).

It's enraging and yet at the same time strangely intriguing to read about books, magazines, advertisements, games, television shows, movies and more were so often geared toward steering a woman to be a certain way.

Strange details include how women were encouraged to be 'fresh' from douching with disinfectants to childhood games where the goal was to get the perfect date to how a woman only achieves true sexual satisfaction after she had fulfilled her destiny of marrying and having children. On top of that it details how girls were encouraged to always dumb themselves down in front of men to flatter their egos, and the author even provides quizzes published decades ago in magazines to test girlishness or career woman potential.

Any modern independent woman will be both shocked, amused, angered and more than likely grateful that so much progress has been made (even though we're still encouraged in many ways to continue to 'think pink'). Just open up a woman's magazine and see the advertisements for pink feminine hygiene products and diet aids, among a million other self-improvement articles. It's great to see a book like 'Pink Think,' however, to realize how far we've come along.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pink Jello Mold of Femininity, October 29, 2002

By 

Mimi Pond (Los Angeles, Ca USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons (Paperback)

This book is genius! It walks a fine line between rationally exploring the history of social expectations for girls and reporting the horror contained within, without ever giving into the temptation to go on one long, humorless feminist rant. In fact, it approaches the topic with remarkable good humor. Well written, informative AND funny!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally!, October 5, 2002

By 

Kara Mae - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons (Paperback)

After enjoying Lynn Perils sarcastic wit in Mystery Date, I was excited to read she had a book in the works. Lo and behold here it is.
Peril reviews highlights of advertisements and home ec propaganda from mid-century america, when gender roles were apparently our patriotic god-fearing duty to obey. Along with illustrations and reprints of such epherma, we get her commentary, which isn't as obnoxiously judgemental as it could be- instead she is just amused and continuously dumbfounded at the ploys used to develop brand loyalty from age 3 on, instill a pride in fragile, meek femininity (strapping robust heterosexuality in the males), and exploit adolescent anxiety in order to do so.
Open any womens magazine from the era and you will find page after page of ads for deoderant and listerine- all with the same message that failure to use their products might ruin your chances at MARRAIGE, the be all end all, apparently, of female life in the mid 1900s.
Lynn Peril collects and organizes the best of these ads and textbooks for you. It is up to you to make any conjectures about what they imply past and present about their place in politics and commerce in America.
The 8 color pages in the center could be put to better use, such as putting more pictures on each page, but that's really just a minor detail.