Gender symbolic colour is a relatively new concept in terms of the history of humankind, and its origins are hard to pin down.
Before the second world war there was little to no reference on gender symbolic colours, and it is likely something introduced as a marketing ploy.
Do you feel pink is a feminine colour and blue is masculine?
Are we just trained to think this way or is there an innate draw to one colour over another depending on your gender?
Do you think that pink for a girl and blue for a boy is still appropriate?
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+1 y
There are no right or wrong answers here, I'm just interested in how people perceive this concept. I still associate pink with girls and blue with boys when I see those colours, I don't necessarily think that's how it should be, but I acknowledge that is how it is and how I've been programmed from birth.
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+1 y
This question isn't about clothing colour choices, but about gender colour labeling, just like on this site. Specific colours used to denote male from female easily.
What are you views on gender symbolic color: pink for a girl, blue for a boy?
Pink is for boys and blue is for girls. Sounds wrong doesn't it? Around the beginning of the the 19th century that was considered the norm. Blue was considered the more feminine colour, while pink was considered a more masculine colour due to its perceived power. But also “Blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies”. It is interesting to note that before the emergence of pink and blue in the 19th century, both male and females were dressed in all white. The reason white was worn was because it was easy to bleach in case the child made a mess of their clothing. Males and females would wear white dresses until the age of six, and males would typically have long hair that they didn't cut until the age of six or seven. The use of white underscored the neutrality of gender at this tender age. Just before World War I, blue and pink became more gender specific. At the start of the women’s liberation movement, girls were no longer dressed in pink clothing, but began sporting more masculine clothing. Feminists believed that clothing constricted women from being equal to males. “ If we dress our girls more like boys and less like frilly little girls... they are going to have more options and feel freer to be active.” This was when pink became more associated to females, since they refused to dress their daughters in pink clothing. This may show that removing the gender stereotype did not begin recently, but has been a process since the 60's. Although there were many women trying to eliminate the gender stereotype in the 60's and 70's, the beginning of the 80's made it difficult to do so. In the 80 pink and blue no longer just related to clothing, but to everything else, such as dippers and toys.
I think I like it although it seems kind of arbitrary. But take the way lots of computer applications still use an image of a 3.5-inch floppy disk to represent saving a file:
That's kind of silly. I don't most young people these days have ever even seen a 3.5-inch floppy disk. But it does allow us to easily scan a computer application's user interface and see where the save button is.
In a similar sense, if I'm drunk at a bar and trying to find the men's bathroom, it helps me if they color code it as blue and the women's as red or pink.
So the actual colors people use, or icons, or whatnot, is not so important to me. But I do like sticking to popular standards. It's like in a Nintendo game, A is jump and B is dash. Games like Super Mario probably helped shape that standard. And probably a game can still be played with the buttons reversed, but most people have come to expect A to jump and B to dash, so I think it's good if a person is making a Nintendo game to stick to that convention
I think sometimes the newer generations want to tear down the standards because the standards are perceived as faulty. And most standards can be perceived as faulty in some way, and sometimes it's good to throw them out and replace them with new ones. But I think we have to be careful about just throwing them out if we can't come up with a de-jure standard that people are going to quickly adopt and understand instead or else it can cause much confusion and chaos. It doesn't simply suffice to say a system is flawed. All systems are flawed. But the system is still vital to prevent things from turning into complete chaos.
I do agree, standardisation is a useful tool in many areas, these things are universally accepted and recognised. And yes I do think that sometimes newer generations want to tear things apart just so they can introduce their own ideas to the current world they live in. But I do believe in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" adage. By all means adapt and expand on it.
I'm similar. I might be biased more working as a software engineer. I find no share of young ones wanting to tear down legacy systems, and I've seen such temptations bankrupt companies. Everyone's in agreement that these systems are flawed, but I'm in favor of iteratively improving upon them rather than throwing them out immediately. Too often we throw out the metaphorical baby with the bathwater when we attempt that.
It wasn't marketing. It was the original social media and celebrity influence.
Think Louis XIV, Queen Elizabeth, Jackie Kennedy...
People have individual preferences. Some others follow them, are influenced by their 'heroes.' Now they have been cemented as being attached to a gender. I wonder if it will change again one day. But I tend to think not. Not for a while, anyway. Because little girls love pink. Little boys do not. I believe there's something in their brain that decides this, long before they understand cultural influences.
P. S. I like pink somewhat. I have it around once in a while. But my, and the world's, favourite colour is blue. I don't like seeing alllllllll my DM's in hot pink. Booooooo. Wish I could choose the colour. Only, I would choose blue for me. And that would be hella confusing. I'm already drowning in words as is, lol.
My favorite was blue for a bit when I was younger, then it was black (teen angst, hahaha), then the dark purple you see in a sunset sometimes, then orange. Actually, it's kind of hard to say I really have a favorite, since so many colors appeal to me. There are also some I'm not much of a fan of, like yellow, even though it's bright and bold as well. *shrug*
Until fairly recently it was the other way round. But as you correctly say it changed as a marketing ploy. I don't think the colour itself matters but i do like having two separate ones
I think this has become the topic of conversation due to the post-modern era of neo-liberalism trying to blur the lines between genders as if there's a chance in hell we wake up one day and suddenly we are no longer divided into 2 distinct genders.
So yeah pink is for girls blue is for boys. Or green is for boys, and orange is for girls or any other it doesn't matter. Bottom line is girls can wear blue and guys can wear pink it will not change the reality that one is a girl and one is a boy.
I grew up watching my dad wearing pink shirt to work. It wasn't bright pink or anything but yeah it was pink. He also liked blue. In fact it was his favorite color. And I guess that really gave me this color≠gender view. This is just a marketing business just like many other things, such as flowers. Who said boys don't like receiving flowers as a gift?
I work with kids and this thing will show up often. When one girl chose blue to color a boy's shirt, she added 'blue is for boy, pink is for girl. Right?' and I had to tell her 'No. They're just colors. Anyone can use any colors. It doesn't really matter.'
Unfortunately, lots of adults (and parents) are sharing their views on pink for girls and blue for boys with their kids. Therefore, the idea keeps going and going for generations.
To OP udpate: clothing or not, I think it is still related to it. All objects that are deemed to be for girls, companies will most likely advertise them in pink. Honestly, when I first joined this site, I was quite intrigued that they insisted I have to choose a side 'boy or girl' especially with what's going on in the world of genders and sexuality. But then it is in their name. And then reading these questions and opinions, I was, for a good few minutes, confused. Why is there pink and blue number on either side of a like button. So, I'm guessing I'm not used to gender color labeling. However, I quicky learned that on this particular site, it does exist. Do I care? No. But, don't you think that this also means that the society just has to learn this cue in their daily life? It all depends on who has the authority in giving those colors. For all I know, any color will do. In fact, just write male/female if it's easier. Cause even with the skirt symbol on girl, I sometimes enter men's toilet. It mostly has no queue. Wonder why.
We have been programmed... there’s no turning back now... lol! Look, they even do it on this website. it seems to be color association due to training and that’s why people ask questions such as “ is it too feminine for men to wear pink”? But who knows, maybe women really do gravitate towards a color like pink over men.
I don’t think we necessarily need color to represent sex. I’m sure in this age of gender fluidity, etc. there are people very opposed to this color representation.
Nevertheless someone kinda made a good choice when promoting the colors. In nature pink is a more delicate color, I think of a rose or a sunset. For blue, I think of more rugged things like the ocean or glacial mountains.
Lol that's funny because pink wasn't seen a s feminine color until after WWII. In 1918, an article from a trade publication called Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department, declared that, since it was derived from red, “Pink is for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”
if you go back in time, colour was far more based on wealth than gender.
Red , Scarlet and bright bold colours where very much used by guys with cash.
Strutting Peacocks…
There are limits which is more to do with society standards and not really being common, things like Pink jeans, trousers, it’s more a case of why? Than it is a gender thing.
I tend to wear what I like, although it’s often hugely differing 😂
Black Victorian goth look.
Smart business suit n tie, waist cost etc.
Shorts, T shirt n boots.
random wardrobe raids, jeans with pink shirt or blue, I have a pink, blue and black in same style and brand.
Then there is going goth for Whitby
I refuse to be stuck in to a social thing where people should wear certain stuff, it’s all bollox, it’s about freedom of expression.
i don’t own any pink underwear though or blue for that matter.
In 1918, an article from a trade publication called Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department, declared that, since it was derived from red, “Pink is for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”
After WWII the shift happened and women were taking charge of their femininity. Rosie the Riveter traded in her factory blues for June Cleaver’s pink apron, Femininity got wrapped in pink, and so did products—from shampoos to fancy fashion.
The ‘50s and ‘60s are full of pink moments, from the strawberry-colored Chanel suit Jackie Kennedy wore on the day JFK was assassinated to Marilyn Monroe’s hot pink strapless dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Of course it was masculine. Pink is eye catching, pink is the color of fresh blood. One of the worst colors men can wear is straight up blue. Its so dorky
Gender symbolic on its own is very much NOT primal human thinking. It’s new and self taught from influences that have evolved with this high tech new world. It’s not real and doesn’t do any good to go about it that way. We’ve become less primal and it’s damaging our time here on this planet.
We see colour in interesting ways that allow us all to communicate with out sense sounds, or senses of smell. When I see something that leaves me doubting my instincts, I get uncomfortable and resort back to my primal ways. If my instincts says it’s a female then it is and visa versa for a male.
In terms of slower evolution; blue is males and pink is females.
did u jus say the fact pink is a girls colour is DAMAGING? i dont see how, i dont think anyone gives a fuck or pay attention to this "issue" if u can even call it one
Reversion to the primal would be far more damaging to society than progression into understanding If you look at how things were, sociologically, economically, and physiologically, we are far better off since the beginning of the Enlightenment Period.
While it is still common, rape was rampant before this period, to the extent that the only thing keeping a father from raping his own daughter in some cultures was that if she were not a virgin, she couldn't be married off (an exchange where he would profit and she had no say) and if she were raped she would then likely be sold to her rapist for a sum. Considering the psychological damage caused by rape, this seems to be a positive change.
People very regularly went without food before mechanization, and especially before the Enlightenment Period... If we were still hunter-gatherers, it was how you expected to die if not by being killed by wild beasts or by someone trying to take what was yours (a primal way of life). Today, around 100 people per year in the US die from hunger.
In a primal world the only skill one could specialize in that would tend to all of their needs would be thievery... In today's society, because we have the concept of financial. exchange, we no longer have to be utilitarian, agrarian Jacks of all trades and can specialize. A person can do a single job and learn to do it exceedingly well, creating products that others can use to do a better job at the jobs they learn to do exceedingly well. This results in a far superior final product. It results in the ability to have well balanced, delicious, nutritious meals in multifloored homes with insulation and central heat and air instead of a hunk of poorly seasoned meat in a one room log hut that wind cuts through causing you to catch pneumomia.
If society were primal in nature, everyone would probably die.
It depends on the circumstance. My basic view, without going into all the intricacies, is that I associate pastel pink with baby girls and pastel blue with baby boys. I also agree with some of the responses that explain the colors as being symbolic. I do think pink looks feminine and I love to wear pink when I am feeling extra feminine (as opposed to wearing a harsh color such as black or red). However, I have seen men pull off pink shirts and still look sexy and masculine.
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+1 y
Pink as a feminine color is a holdover from Nazi Germany. It is well known that Jews were sent to concentration camps and made to wear yellow 6 pointed stars. Less known is that homosexuals too were sent to the camps and made to wear upside down pink triangles... If you were a gay Jew you got a pink triangle on top of a yellow star.
Post-war the gay community reclaimed the pink triangle symbol. Gays in the US being misunderstood and stereotyped as effeminate, and the general population either not knowing, or not caring, about the plight of the homosexuals in Nazi Germany, and the background of the pink triangle, associated the pink triangle, and more specifically the color pink, to feminine.
I've always found pink to be a historically most interesting color, but not quite as interesting as magenta, which is a figment of our imagination.
always found it a bit weird i mean before we moved to the UK i associated pink more with boys and blue with girls so associating a gender witha colour isn't weird to me reallyyy as long as we're not weird about it i just find pink for girls, blue for boys weird
Doesn't bother me, but like traffic lights you get use to them so changing them now would mess me up. Like if they got switched I'd end up walking into the men's room on accident.
The origin of the colors isn't hard to track down. It was the opposite and people simply protested by dressing the genders the other way around. Kind of a failed protest in my opinion you still got gender color, which was what people didn't like.
I don’t mind it❤️ The allure seems like a “representative” type of thing to me, because of the way people perceive it these days due to various reinforcements over the years. It’s interesting to mention however, that the colors we do chose to display, may move people to think a certain way about us more times than we are aware.
It’s fine. What’s next the symbols them selves. I mean honestly. Old fashioned or not this fucking world needs to buck up. What a bunch or fucking pussies. Men women. That’s what there is ok it’s simple. Call them when you will but that can’t change it’s in your dna.
I can see why sites like this use it as a quick indicator of gender, but in real life, I've got pink clothing, and I don't think of pink as a girly color necessarily.
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