Growing up, we are taught that pink is for girls and blue is for boys, and this idea is especially prominent with babies, proven by gender reveal parties (check out my separate article on gender reveals here). Why were these colors "assigned" genders, and is it harmful to keep emphasizing that pink has to be for girls and blue has to be for boys?
The History
Before the 1920's, kids often wore white dresses, regardless of gender to make it easier to change diapers and easier to bleach. When a baby was put in colored clothing, pink actually used to belong to boys because it was a "younger shade of red" and seen as a color that represents strength. Blue was often used for girls because the color was prettier and more dainty looking. In the mid 19th century, babies began to start being dressed in light pastel colors to represent being young and innocence (since white usually was a color to represent innocence). Stores began to sell these colored clothing, pink for infants with brown eyes and blue for infants with blonde hair. Many parents kept gender neutral colors so the clothes could be used as hand me downs.
Then, without much reason, advertisements began to be the cause of Baby Boomers being raised on the notion that girls should wear pink and boys should wear blue. Retailers began to catch on and helped emphasize this notion to help slow down the use of hand me down clothing for those parents who had two kids of different genders who followed these norms, therefore causing them to buy more baby clothes.
Once prenatal testing was popular during the 80's, people tended to decorate the nursery in the pink/blue colors (of course depending on the baby's predicted birth sex).
How it Feeds Into Gender Norms
By embedding the idea of girl pink/blue boy into our minds at a young age, it feeds into the idea that pink is a feminine girly color while blue is a masculine manly color. By doing so, feminine men and masculine boys often get ridiculed for going against society's gender norms. This feeds into gender stereotypes.
Gender stereotypes are bad for the mental health of those who just want to truly express who they are without being socially ridiculed or bullied. With companies are pushing their products onto us, by convincing us to want to look for feminine or masculine to match our genders, it forces people to believe that that's the way they need to be if they want to strive in life. By telling men and women that they need to look a certain way, they internalized hatred for how they want to express themselves and force themselves to be somebody that they don't like. This ends up causing discomfort and identity crises. It makes people struggle to accept who they are.
With our world evolving, it is very likely that these gender stereotypes will die out and gradually become an irrelevant part of the past. It is just difficult for those who have had these norms embedded into their heads since day one to allow us to feel comfortable with who we are.
Men can wear pink, men can wear dresses, and men can do makeup. Women can wear blue, women can play video games, and women do not have to be slaves to their kitchens. Gender norms and stereotypes are harmful and an unnecessary obstacle to overcome when becoming comfortable with your identity.
About the Creator
Annie
she/her
I have a small sticker shop on Etsy called DynamiteArtStickers, so if you can, please check that out. The IG for it is @dynamiteart368.
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