A few days ago, science writers were having a field day with a study supposedly showing that girls like the color pink better. Here are some of the sample article titles: "It's official, girls prefer pink!" "Women may be hardwired to prefer pink." "Science confirms, girls like pink, boys like blue." "Girls really do prefer pink" (that last one from the Washington Post).Only one paper got it at least somewhat correct: "Girls prefer pink, or at least a redder shade of blue." This, however, was from a science paper.I will admit that my knee-jerk reaction to these headlines was that this study just had to be a load of crap - to put it bluntly. How do you truly measure color preference? Who did the research? How old were the participants? How do you separate out what our society tells us versus what we truly prefer? As a "girl" with a room full of blue, I was skeptical.Fortunately, the good folks over at Science Blogs have done an analysis of this study which shows just how inaccurate it is. It's worth a read in order to understand how easily bad science gets turned into bad journalism. Sadly, this just serves to illustrate how entrenched gender norms are in our society that a study which shows that some women have a slight preference for the "reddish" part of the spectrum gets turned into a confirmation of girls = pink, boys = blue.The worst example of this reporting comes from Fox News. I'd like to give you a little sample so you can see the damage that this kind of bad reporting can do.

So why is this research done?Well, in part because feminist scholars have gone to great lengths to dismiss any differences between genders ? they prefer to call it a social construct, created by evil patriarchy.I know this because I went to Berkeley where I didn't just burn my bra, I burned my gym socks, three pairs of dolphin shorts, a tube top made out of coconuts and a jaunty fisherman's cap. I stopped at the chaps.I learned that feminists there believe if a baby girl had a choice, she'd pick blue. She'd also become an oil driller, one who wears flannel and digs K.D. Lang.But that's BS. Nearly all girls wear pigtails and boys want to eat earth worms.

Awesome.