A Pink and Blue World

As we've begun to talk about culture and gender, an interesting point we went over was about the socially accepted standard that boys wear blue and girls wear pink. So when did this all begin?

Male, female, or gender neutral?

Let's look at this excerpt from a 1918 article in Earnshaw's Infants' Department:

"The generally accepted rule is pink is 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."

In the photo above, a young Franklin Delano Roosevelt is seen wearing a frilly white dress and sporting long shoulder length hair, normal for 1884, even considered gender neutral. In those days, boys wore dresses until age 6 or 7, also the time of their first haircut. This is completely different from what you and I have most likely grown up with. It was not until the 1940's that  manufacturers and retailers began to shape the way we see the relationship between color and gender today.

This article from the Smithsonian magazine does a great job of breaking the issue down. Take a look and reflect on what it presents and your own experiences.