Pink Think: Becoming a Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons

By Lynn Peril

W.W. Norton (2002), $15.95

In theory, most of us females shouldn't need advice on how to become a woman. But as the subtitle of Lynn Peril's social history suggests, pulling off femininity -- or the "other f-word," as she describes it -- isn't as easy as it looks. On the contrary, playing the role of the "weaker sex" demands strict vigilance and devotion to the cult of "pink think," a "set of ideas and attitudes about what constitutes proper female behavior."

The Oakland-based founder of the zine Mystery Date and a columnist for Bust magazine, Peril is an avid collector of vintage memorabilia, and as such is particularly well suited for studying how pop culture has shaped women's self-image over the years. Focusing primarily on the 1940s to the 1970s, Pink Think reveals how women were conditioned with elaborate rules -- "nice girls don't chew gum/swear/wear pants/fill-in-the-blank" -- hidden within seemingly harmless artifacts, including dating manuals, etiquette books, lunch boxes, and board games. Enforced girliness was and is big business, particularly for advertisers who insist that the right brand of sanitary napkin, engagement ring, and face cream is essential for a gal's well-being. But pink think isn't just a relic: Witness 1995's The Rules and 2001's The Surrendered Wife.

While Peril's knack for arcane facts and trivia (example: Lysol, the toilet cleaner and disinfectant, was once marketed as a douche) makes for an entertaining read, she ultimately offers too much data and too little analysis. The playful prose she uses in Mystery Date is muted in her debut book, and even her personal anecdotes are too few and far between to sustain the reader for the long haul.