Isn’t the whole “pink for girls; blue for boys” thing over?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why people find out the sex. We were so happy with either and wanted unisex clothes. Just seems the easy path if you aren’t into stereotypes.

If you plan on treating both equally, then why bother finding out?

Exactly. I’m not a mother. I’m a “birthing person”. Where is this nonsense going to end??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this the new millennial bullshit? More to complain about? And I'm 38 for reference. When does your complaining stop????

Are you kidding? Complaining is in the DNA/ definition of being a millennial. They all got trophies, remember?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gross. I wish the browns and oranges of the 70s would come back for kids.

No! It's what led to Disco and then Punk Rock. No.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On a related note, why are kittens for girls clothes and puppies for boys? When was that decided?

All cats are girls and all dogs are boys. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So in this vein, I asked my 10 yr old, 5th grade son if he would wear a pink shirt (Not totally pink but with a pink hue) and he said absolutely no way. I also asked him to wear some pink soccer socks. Again, absolutely no way.

Sorry, guys. But the pink = girl, blue = boy is not quite over yet. You cannot force little kids to wear things that they do not want no matter how PC you want to make them

All the men I know wear pink shirts. I don't know where your son got these bizarre ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I thought you'd enjoy this Smithsonian article.
When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?: Every generation brings a new definition of masculinity and femininity that manifests itself in children’s dress
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/

Very interesting! My mother was born in 1924, and my uncle, in 1926. I have adorable announcement cards that consist of a tiny visiting card with the baby's name and birthdate, pink-bordered for my uncle and blue for my mother, attached to the parents' larger card with a ribbon. The ribbon also is blue for my mother, and pink for my uncle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So in this vein, I asked my 10 yr old, 5th grade son if he would wear a pink shirt (Not totally pink but with a pink hue) and he said absolutely no way. I also asked him to wear some pink soccer socks. Again, absolutely no way.

Sorry, guys. But the pink = girl, blue = boy is not quite over yet. You cannot force little kids to wear things that they do not want no matter how PC you want to make them

All the men I know wear pink shirts. I don't know where your son got these bizarre ideas.

10 year old boys are at a point where they are beginning that stage of desperation to fit in and intense self exploration. As kids move into adolescence they become hyper focused on what they convey with their choices and if a boy has not figured themselves out or, more importantly, doesn't want to draw attention to themselves, then they will blend into their stereotypes with fervent enthusiasm.

A boy wearing a pink shirt SAYS something, it says he's confident or he supports LGBTQ people or that he likes pink, it says that a lot of adults will probably engage with him to tell him he's brave or breaking the mold or whatever. Most boys just want to be in the middle of the pack from age 10-18. Forcing them to make themselves into an object of interest does not help them find their way any more easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I thought you'd enjoy this Smithsonian article.
When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?: Every generation brings a new definition of masculinity and femininity that manifests itself in children’s dress
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/

Very interesting! My mother was born in 1924, and my uncle, in 1926. I have adorable announcement cards that consist of a tiny visiting card with the baby's name and birthdate, pink-bordered for my uncle and blue for my mother, attached to the parents' larger card with a ribbon. The ribbon also is blue for my mother, and pink for my uncle.

+1

That article is really fascinating. The pink/blue thing was basically a marketing ploy to get people to buy more baby clothes (since you couldn't re-use clothes for a sibling of the opposite sex). There's nothing innate about any of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s weird when people act like hating pink is a feminist badge rather than misogynistic itself.

I think there’s nuance between “hating pink” and “not wanting your life to look like it’s been spray painted with pepto-bismol in service of lazy gender norming by mainstream children’s clothing retailers”. I’d be just as frustrated if it was yellow or green that suddenly became so overwhelmingly the default for little girls.

+1

That was definitely my feeling. I like pink as a color just fine; I did not want my baby's room to look like a pink bomb went off. So we didn't find out the sex -- that meant people bought more gender-neutral clothing, which was nice. My daughter (and I) wear pink sometimes, but it's hardly the dominant color in our closets. It's just one among many.

[Anonymous]

Judging my my experience shoping for baby clothes, no. I like blue and would probably have bought a lot of blue stuff for my baby regardless of sex, but it is overwhelming how boys clothes are by default blue. I try to find stuff that isn't blue to change it up, but brands often manage to make every other color super feminine looking (i.e. ruffles, hearts, flowers, polka dots). So he's got a closet full of blue.

If you try to find "gender neutral," everything is just gray.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Judging my my experience shoping for baby clothes, no. I like blue and would probably have bought a lot of blue stuff for my baby regardless of sex, but it is overwhelming how boys clothes are by default blue. I try to find stuff that isn't blue to change it up, but brands often manage to make every other color super feminine looking (i.e. ruffles, hearts, flowers, polka dots). So he's got a closet full of blue.

If you try to find "gender neutral," everything is just gray.

There's a fair amount of yellow and green for babies, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this the new millennial bullshit? More to complain about? And I'm 38 for reference. When does your complaining stop????

Are you kidding? Complaining is in the DNA/ definition of being a millennial. They all got trophies, remember?

Who is they? The person you're replying to is a millennial. You probably are too. Freaking geniuses here who think millennial means "person younger than me that I'm currently mad at" and then . . . complains about said person's perceived complaining.

[Anonymous]

In the late sixties, when I was born, you didn't know the gender so didn't buy pink or blue or heavily "gendered" clothing. It's mainly become a thing since ultrasounds show the sex.

If you don't want people to buy pink or blue, tell them you decided not to know the sex of the child until it is born. No "gender" reveals or anything like that. Baby is "it" until born.

[Anonymous]

It's so much worse than it ever was. I think it's so people won't hand down clothes/toys from boys to girls or vice versa and therefore have to buy more stuff .

[Anonymous]

I birthed my 3 without knowing the sex ahead of time. It was all yellow, greens, and hand-me downs after the first child.