Girls have not always been pink and boys have not always been blue. This week, Jessica Valenti is joined by Peggy Orenstein to discuss how to better raise kids.

Walking down an aisle in any toy store, it would seem that the way children play should be broken down by gender: pink and glitter for girls, blue and superheroes for boys. But has it always been this way?

This week, host Jessica Valenti is joined by Peggy Orenstein, author of many books including Cinderella Ate My Daughter and most recently, Girls and Sex, to tackle the question: how can we break our girls from toys that promote domesticity and hyper-feminization without teaching them that princesses and pink are bad?

Valenti and Orenstein also talk about the history of pink v blue, gender neutral toys and the origin of this divide. Orenstein also offers advice to parents.

“There’s so many ways that you can find that scratch that itch of wanting to feel pride and joy and fun in being a girl,” says Orenstein. “And I would say the same thing for parents of boys: not only having those same things for boys, but making sure that your son also has lots of things that reinforce that girls are people too who do the same things that boys do.”

As always, we want to hear from you: add your perspective in the comments below.

Episode fifteen: Princesses, pink and 'girly' culture

A few weeks ago, we touched on feminism becoming “mainstream.” In this episode, we take a much deeper dive into the issues of buying, selling, branding and consumerism around feminism.

A few weeks ago, we touched on feminism becoming “mainstream.” In this episode, we take a much deeper dive into the issues of buying, selling, branding and consumerism around feminism.
Host Jessica Valenti is joined by Andi Zeisler, co-founder of Bitch Media and author of We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement.
We explore the progression of so-called “marketplace feminism.” From feminine cigarettes to deodorants preparing women to ask for job raises, what does it mean when a political movement seems more like another consumer choice?

Episode sixteen: The buying and selling of feminism

As a society, we are obsessed with youth. Thanks to advances in medical science, there are new procedures popping up every day marketed to women to improve their appearance. While we haven’t yet found the fountain of youth, we have discovered Botox, a de-wrinkling neurotoxin injected millions of times each year, mostly among women.

But why is this particular procedure so appealing?

This week, host Jessica Valenti is joined by Dana Berkowitz, Associate Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies at Louisiana State University and author of the upcoming book Botox Nation.

Episode  seventeen: When women's rights meet botox – What would a feminist do?

This week on the podcast, host Jessica Valenti speaks with Hillary Clinton’s Latino outreach director about the realities of being undocumented and female

Episode eighteen: Why immigration is a feminist issue

In the shadow of the inauguration, host Jessica Valenti talks with Syreeta McFadden, Jaclyn Friedman and Aimee Thorne-Thomsen about what comes next for feminism

Episode nineteen: Staring down 2017

Saturday’s record-breaking demonstration brought together a diverse group of people to air a spectrum of grievances. We take a look at what comes next

Episode Twenty: The women will march on

Host Jessica Valenti speaks with visual artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh about public art, the pressure to produce political pieces and how artists will survive

Episode Twenty-one: Making art in the time of Trump

A Guardian podcast bringing you rants, interviews and advice from the front lines of modern feminism

What would a feminist do? A Guardian podcast

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