Written by: Yojana Gautam - 23068, Grade XII
Posted on: 13 September, 2022
Assigning color to gender is a “gift” of the twentieth-century. This practice came out in the forefront frequently in Europe and America. It also seems that the effect of color-coded gender differences (pink for women, blue for men) existed in opposite. In fact, this reversal of what we consider “normal” was considered conventional. In the early twentieth century the controversy of when and why pink and blue came into fashion to designate gender rages on. Almost every argument alluded to a paragraph within the novel Little Women, published in 1868: “Amy ties a pink bow and a blue bow on Meg’s twins Daisy and Demi, so people will know the difference between the girl and therefore the boy.” This is often said to wipe out the “French style,” suggesting that it would be possible in France that pink and blue were already gender-specific. However, there's evidence that this practice isn't always common or always done throughout Europe. In fact, within the nineteenth century, parents dressed infants in white dresses, suggesting that color and dresses were not accustomed to distinguish between girls and boys At one point, pink was considered more of a boy’s color, as a watered-down, bold, dramatic red, which could be a fierce color. Instead, blue was considered more for ladies. Probably this choice was littered with the very fact that blue, especially blueness, was related to Mary in Christian Theology. In fact, painters often mixed Lazuli into paints to depict what was considered the foremost sacred feminine Ico. The pink and blue tradition is recent and comparatively exclusive to the Western world, but the ladies ’ preference for the color pink seems to have deeper roots. In a very recent study,the researchers report a preference for blue color on a yellow–blue scale both in males and in females, but a girl's preference for red on a green–red scale. This sex difference, evealed by a rapid paired-comparison task, is powerful and cross-cultural .
These colors were first used as gender signifiers just before World War I (for either girls or boys), pink meant weak, shy girls who play with dolls and don’t deserve the maximum amount as boys. After we create a chart with pink and blue, we promote gender stereotypes. Blue stands for boys who must be strong and rough. One reason for the increased use of pink for ladies and blue for boys was the invention of recent chemical dyes, which meant that children's clothing may well be mass-produced and washed in plight without fading.
In the 20th century, the practice in Europe varied from country to country, with some assigning colors supported the baby's complexion, et al. assigning pink sometimes to boys and sometimes to women.We assumed that pink clothes would have a powerful impact, especially on men, because men are usually unacquainted pink-colored clothes. On the other hand, because the present study was the primary research examining the effect of gender-colored clothing, we conducted an exploratory investigation among male participants.
References:
https://info.umkc.edu/womenc/2018/06/25/8369/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5673081_Pink_and_blue_The_color_of_gender
https://www.ilo.org/global/docs/WCMS_818264/lang--en/index.htm
