Does the world need pink and blue globes?

Spotted these in a high street shop this week. One globe is as you would expect – blue oceans, green and brown landmasses. The other is pink.

It may not say ‘boy’ and ‘girl’, but there can’t be any doubt that this is the intention.

The only time you would need a pink globe would be if there was a resurgence of the British Empire, and we took over the ENTIRE world.

But in the meantime, there is no place for this pinkification of science and learning. The oceans are blue, sexism is pink.

 

Photalife

15 thoughts on “Does the world need pink and blue globes?”

  1. My granddaughter is sexist because she loves the color pink. I must ask her to stop being a repressive tool of the patriarchy, because we all know pink is the color of feminine repression the world over!

    Therefore, I will demand that all her possessions from this day forward be grey!

    1. The sepia globe is a traditional old fashioned globe. The ‘blue’ globe is standard in its representation of land and sea. The pink globe has no purpose other than to appeal to people who maintain that pink is for girls.

      1. Have you ever thought that maybe this has nothing to do with the colour of the globe and everything to do with your perverted outlook on life? See if pink is a symbol of oppression then you have to admit that every female that in fact likes the colour pink is too stupid to know that she is being oppressed. Capitalism is the great equalizer in certain aspects. If pink didn’t sell then it wouldn’t be on the shelf. This whole ordeal has a lot more to do with you and your out outlook on the world than anything else. If you want globes that come in a third colour other than pink then how about you start a company and provide this service to the public instead of demanding that some company changes to suit your sensibilities while you yourself have no personal investment in the game. People vote with their money and the world doesn’t owe you anything.

  2. Surprised at how hostile these comments are (and how many are missing the point). I, for one, agree with you. There is really no need for a pink globe. Sepia links cartography to history (and fits certain design aesthetics better). Blue, green, and brown reflects geographic features, which helps children to learn. But pink doesn’t serve any real educational purpose. It seems solely to be a marketing ploy to sell more globes. And the labeling by color? I’d call the blue one “Animal Globe” because the blue is not the defining feature (unlike the pink with it’s fuchsia land and sickly pastel water).
    You can probably guess that I’m in favor of the globe that shows the topography most accurately. If I had a separate study or library, I’d probably want a small sepia one as a design feature. But never the pink.

    1. I think the point that is being missed here is really quite simple. This company is in the business of making money because that is the purpose of a business. I believe you referred to this but then dismissed it as it seemed not important or inline with your ideals.
      “It seems solely to be a marketing ploy to sell more globes”

      The reason why these pink globes (among other pink things) are on the market is because they sell. If they weren’t selling than the business would be losing money and they’d be off the shelves in no time. I think it is unfair to try and dictate how a company operates when you have no money of your own on the line.

      However, this is where I believe you are missing the point. Women aren’t bound to choosing the pink globe. There are no ‘pink globe inspectors’ at the checkout making sure that your globe colour matches your sex. Men, women and in between are free to choose this colour or any other colour. Yet somehow these pink globes are still selling! Now why is that? Is that because people of all kinds generally like pink or is it because woman are the victims of a very gender polarised society which pushes upon them societal norms that cause them to unwittingly buy the pink globe? If you think the latter then you seem to have an extremely low opinion of women and their cognitive ability.

      Please give women more credit and allow business to sell what makes money. This isn’t oppression. No one is forcing anyone to buy anything they don’t want to. They are merely providing a product that happens to be pink and happens to sell. Women can like pink if they want to and it doesn’t make them victims, weak, brainwashed, helpless etc. You are making the assumption that pink is only for girls and I am only saying that pink is for the people who like pink. Obviously there’s enough of them otherwise the company would discontinue this product because it’d be losing money.

  3. One single word sums up my thoughts on this: WHY?!!?

    Aside from the sexist overtones there seems to be no reason to have a pink globe. The “blue” one is simply following the convntion of having “blue” represent sea and keeps the “green” representing land, maintaining something of he appearance of the actual earth. If anything else for an educational “toy” this is misleading.

    Do not understand why anyone wants to defend this other than some equally unnecesary knee-jerk reaction defending “free markets”.

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