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

Forum Index » Expectant and Postpartum Moms

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

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I expressly did not want pink for my DD. We asked family and friends not to buy pink items for her as a baby (we said anything but pink, so people still bought very gendered stuff, but we also got lots of white and red and green and yellow, thankfully).

Well, once she was old enough to express a preference, guess what her favorite color is? Yup -- pink. She is OBSESSED. We have just given in. I buy her pink stuff all the time, knowing it is the easiest way to make sure she will like it. I do try to mix in other colors as much as I can, but I'm realistic about it. I can buy her t-shirts in other colors, but her shoes pretty much have to be pink. Or if I'm getting her a hat to wear all summer, it better be pink. Her bedroom is very colorful but overwhelmingly pink, and her favorite shade is that pepto bismol bright pink. Never thought I'd be here!

I'm sure she absorbed some (all?) of it from just cultural indicators that "pink is for girls". But after observing her for a while, I also think it's just a really appealing color for some little kids? Like there is something comforting about it. In the natural world, pink is a color associated with flowers, springtime, fruit, and health (pink flushed cheeks and pink tongues). All good stuff. Lots of good associations with blue and green, too. But other colors have some negative associations. So I think at least some of it is a natural appeal.

I think the bigger issue is that we discourage boys from liking pink as a "girl's color" even though there's no reason for this. I think the fact that girl's like pink is normal; the fact that many boys will express an aversion to pink is a social construct we've imposed on them. Most girls will say they like blue, too, even if they prefer pink. But boys will say they don't like pink. That's concerning.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics