Do girls like pink because primitive women needed to find ripe fruit?

A new study out of Newcastle University in England says that females really do have a stronger preference for pink than males do. Apparently everyone likes blue, but women tested in the study showed a preference for the "pinker end of the spectrum." No surprise there for the parents of small girls, but I still want to blame the marketeers for giving the girls no choices but pink! Have you seen the back-to-school stuff filling the stores? Pink, pink, pink.

The study involved 208 people age 20-26, with a mixture of British caucasians and recent immigrants to Britain from mainland China. The researchers speculate that female preference for reddish hues may have arisen from sex-specific specialization in the evolutionary division of labour - specifically that women, as the gatherers, needed to develop a way to identify ripe fruits or edible red leaves. Interesting that the researchers do not consider for a moment that women might have been hunters. The old dichotomy of Man-the-Hunter and Woman-the-Cave Keeper lives!

Of course, the study does not control for the impact of all those years of being dressed in pink, sold pink toys, shown pinkly dressed TV heroines, etc etc. Barbie is big on pink. Is the study really just showing how effective all that pink marketing has been? I'd also like to see what the results would be for a group of 70 year olds. Do people outgrow pink? (And, yes of course I am writing this while wearing a pink shirt!)

To read more about the study, take a look at www.sciencedirect.com and search for the article "Biological components of sex differences in color preference" by Anya C. Hurlberta and Yazhu Linga.

Thank goodness for Hermione

I promise no spoilers for any readers of the Harry Potter series who haven't finished Book 7 yet; but suffice it to say that the thinking and action of Hermione is very important to the outcome of the Potter series. I am delighted that my kids are reading a series with such strong female characters. There has been some criticism of the female characters in Harry Potter, but that criticism seems rather unfair to me. Who could say that Professor McGonegall, Mrs Weasley, Tonks, Fleur Delacourt, and Hermione are not strong, intelligent, brave women? And Ginny, Luna, and Hermione are there in the thick of the fighting in Book 5, as effective as any of the boys. Yes, Mrs Weasley is a homemaker but in the end (no comment allowed - spoiler)... Yes, Hermione is always the worrier who thinks about the worst possible outcomes, but isn't her decision to....(no, another potential spoiler). Even the evil Dolores Umbridge has her (twisted, sadistic) strong side.

My feeling is that Book 7 put the feminism firmly and centrally in the Harry Potter series. You'll have to read it to find out why.

There are lots of articles out there on the Potter websites about this issue. Here's a few chosen at random: You can start with this fan-written editorial on MuggleNet - http://www.mugglenet.com/editorials/editorials/edit-trixstar01.shtml
Then here's a short article setting out some of the pros and cons - http://atheism.about.com/od/harrypotter/i/women.htm
- and another about stereotypes particularly in the Order of the Phoenix - http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/2003/08/harry_potter_an.

No more on Harry Potter!