One thing that has always intrigued me is our society's fascination with assigning gender colors to children at birth. An expecting couple finds out they are having a girl and suddenly, pink everything! If you walk through a baby store (or any store that sells baby and toddler clothing) you can't help but notice the trend of boy clothing being blue and girl clothing being pink. But where did this trend come from?
This idea is surprisingly recent. Historically, things were quite different. According to the Smithsonian, for centuries, all children had worn practical white clothing. This was considered to be gender-neutral and something everyone dressed their babies in. White clothing could be easily cleaned and bleached when the inevitable diaper mishaps would occur. The concept of pastel baby clothes was not introduced until the mid-19th century. At that time however, the colors were not promoted as gender signifiers. They were not assigned to the specific genders until just before World War I.
It took a while for popular culture to embrace the idea of gender-specific colors. But in June 1918, an article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink 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.” So when society began to associate specific colors with girls and boys, they actually felt blue was more appropriate for girls and pink was for boys! How then did this idea change to what it is today?
The switch apparently took place in the 1940s, as a result of people's preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers. Several large retailers conducted research to find out what styles and colors men and women preferred. The outcome was they felt women were more attracted to pink and men preferred blue. This video also explains the switch pretty well.
However, interestingly enough, recent history also included a wave of unisex apparel. This is linked mostly to feminism. When the women’s liberation movement arrived in the mid-1960s, the unisex look became all the rage. Now young girls were dressing in more masculine, or at least unfeminine, styles. According to feminists at the time, one of the ways girls were lured into subservient roles as women was through clothing. They felt that by dressing their little girls more like boys, that girls would have more options and feel freer to be active. Gender-neutral clothing remained popular until the mid-1980's.
Then, once again, a huge shift in society caused people to focus on making colors gender-specific. This rise can be due, at least in part, to the rise of prenatal testing. Expectant parents learned the sex of their unborn baby and then went shopping for “girl” or “boy” merchandise. The fad spread from clothing and crib sheets to bigger items such as strollers, car seats and toys.
Another important factor to consider in the idea of gender specific colors today could also be the rise of consumerism among children in recent decades. According to child development experts, children are just becoming conscious of their gender between ages 3 and 4. At the same time, however, they are the subjects of sophisticated advertising that tends to reinforce social conventions. This plays a major role in the whole "nurture vs. nature" debate regarding gender. I'm sure we've all seen those ads on TV that are obviously targeting little girls with hot pink, frilly toys and those targeting boys with blue trucks. We should never underestimate the power of advertising and the role this can play in children's ideas of gender.
So now here we are today, with blue still being the dominant color for boys and pink being associated with girls. That concept is even apparent on GirlsAskGuys with girls being assigned pink profiles and guys being assigned blue profiles. These ideas may stick around but I have a feeling that things will change yet again with more and more people rebelling against the idea of gender specific ANYTHING.
So what are your thoughts? Do you like these colors being gender specific or would you prefer things for children to be more gender neutral or unisex? Share your opinions below!
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