Logan 1 Tecora Logan-Cason English 1102 Mrs.

Thomas April 8th, 2014 The History of Pink and Blue: Gender Cued Colors When babies are born most of them all look the same. You cant really tell the sex of an infant unless you ask the parents or an even simpler way, look at their attire. If the infant is wearing blue then it must be a boy and if the infant is wearing pink then it must be a girl. In American society today this has become the routine when identifying the sex of a baby. Pink and blue have become very successful gender cue colors. Have you ever wondered why this is? Have you ever wondered why American people put so much trust into colors? If a male is wearing an all pink outfit, in your mind and like many other American peoples mind, hes feminine or he might even be gay. In contrast if a female is wearing all blue, she may be too masculine. We are not born knowing pink is a girl color and blue is a boy color but we are taught these things. Society is the framework for how everybody thinks today, its the source of all interpretations. Without societys standards the way the world works would be so confusing. But have you ever thought about why society thinks this way? Like why is color so important when it comes to gender? This simple question fueled me enough to go out and try to find the answer. Starting off I wanted to find research on what specific colors mean. According to a source detailing the characteristics associated with color, blue is said to stand for loyalty, trust, stability, and confidence while pink is said to stand for love, caring, feminine and tenderness. (Color Symbolism and Culture) The gender cue color is a

Logan 2 prevalent phenomenon in America so I wanted to stick to how Americans characterize these colors. When using the above descriptions its more easily to understand why blue is connected with boys and pink is connected with girls. Then again you also have to keep in mind that these depictions were associated by society, not already attached to the colors when they came about. Colors werent made to fit certain characteristics but rather characteristics were paired with the color. So in a way color preference must be solely based on interpretations, but some research suggest this is not the case. Roxanne Khamsi, a writer for New Scientist, wrote an article titled Women May Be Hardwired to Prefer Pink explaining theories about why women may prefer the color pink and why men may prefer the color blue. During the early times of hunting and gathering women were in charge of gathering fruit. An indicator for ripe fruit is a reddish color with a pinkish tint. Women learned this a survival technique and overtime it became permanently imprinted in their brain as a good color. (Khamsi) Reddish and pinkish colors became a preference for women. Khamsi comments further on why men may prefer the color blue. During earlier times there wasnt a frail man on the television telling you what the weather was going to be. The men had to go out and study the sky, in order to know when there was good weather and when there was bad weather. Normally blue, clear skies indicated good weather and clear, blue water was a safe water source. (Khamsi) After a while this description became imprinted in their brain and became a preference just like the women. People might think that the preference for blue would also exist in women when talking about good weather and safe water sources, and this is true. Both sexes find blues more appealing than other shades of the rainbow, stated by Anya Hulbert, a scientist at the University of Newcastle. This

Logan 3 statement was found through previous research conducted by Hulbert and her team. Although it may be true, there is a difference. Men tend to like true blues like ro yal while women prefer blues with a pinkish undertone like lilacs. (Khamsi) After reviewing sources like the two above you may figure that the question has been answered, I surely did. What colors mean in American society was illustrated, an argument about how its all societys interpretation was introduced, and then it was slightly disproven by theories of why women may prefer pink. This all is very supportive in the notion as to why pink and blue are gender cue color, so the inquiry was answered? Wrong. When researching you come across a lot of interesting opinions and facts that you never questioned or thought about. This is exactly what happen when I began digging into the history of gender cued colors. For about thirty years now Jo B. Paoletti, a historian at the University of Maryland and author of Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls from the Boys in America, has been studying childrens clothing. According to records, before the mid-19th century children, ages infancy to six, wore only white. This was for boys and girls. The sexes also didnt wear gender specific clothes. Whether you were a boy or girl you wore clothes such as pants, tops, dresses, long socks, etc. White was prevalent because it was known for purity and innocence, which is how adults envisioned their children. Later down the line, WWI, colored clothing began to emerge and pink and blue became gender signifiers. It was much different in those times though, 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. (Maglaty) Yes you heard it right, pink was a masculine color and

Logan 4 blue was a feminine color. For about twenty years that was the norm until it abruptly changed. You may ask, why it suddenly changed manufacturers. Pink became a girl color and blue became a boy color overnight, based off the opinion of powerful people in the working field. Americans preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers, quoted from the article clearly says interpreted, even though during that time the gender cue colors played different roles. Its weird to even think that such things existed when in todays time its like a sin. Most men wouldnt dare wear white dresses and later on pink clothes, but thats todays society. Back then it was completely different. These new pieces of evidence give an even bigger role to society. The world is kind of like a performance, individuals play the part while society sits in the audience ready to critique and make demands. The audience is so large and important that the individuals have no choice but to abide by the rules and give them (society) what they want. The opinions of others frames everyones action and people are known to go with the majority. If the industry and manufacturers during the mid-19th century advertised and basically forced America to conform to the new idea that pink is for girls and blue is for boys then they had no choice but to follow in suit. No one wants to be a bystander or go against the norm, usually. Thats not until someone is brave enough to lead the fight.