Gender and Color: A colorful history

Blue= boys and pink= girls. But it's not that simple really, and many of you expressed strong opinions on color and gender last week at the sight of the pretty blue room Rachel helped her friend paint for her baby girl. Rachel is a color consultant- a very interesting job we might add! We checked out her site and found a great article she wrote on the history of gender and color. So, have little boys always been dressed in blue? Not quite...read on for the full story.

In the early 1800's in the US, babies, both boys and girls, wore long white dresses. It wasn't until later when an emphasis was placed on development and crawling, that the clothing was adapted to allow for more ease of movement.

Interestingly enough, pink was originally designated for boys. In the Christian tradition, red, and therefore pink, were associated with males and blue, associated with the Virgin Mary, was feminine. It wasn't until after WWI when blue had been used in military uniforms, that blue was considered masculine.

Based on today's modern catalogs, people still seem fairly attached to the tradition. We do notice a whole lot of bright orange showing up these days, which could be a good neutral color. What gender neutral colors would you choose?

Thanks again to Rachel for this great article! We only scratched the surface really- for the full story, (and loads of other interesting thoughts on color) click here!

Comments (5)

What an interesting history. I wonder if the use of blue in uniforms was dictated by economics (a surplus of blue fabrics dirt cheap?).

As for 'gender neutral colors' - I think the first step is to stop using terms like 'gender neutral' and simply focus on colors you love and colors that inspire and invigorate children without saddling any psychological meaning on the choice.

That said, I would probably go for a 'theme' room that employed a lot of colors: a garden, a beach, a jungle, a forest, a library. Children's room s are a good opportunity to buck the system and let your imagination run amok. Why tie yourself down to a single color?

posted by Maryja on April 2nd 2007 at 9:03am
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When I was pregnant, my husband and I didn't want to learn our baby's sex before he was born. We chose items that were generally cute, cool, "kid" stuff, and focused on the color green for linens, etc. When Travis was born, we had a room full of green and other primary colors, and a lot of monkeys and other animals. When it comes to dressing him, I don't really go for the whole bears-and-baseball stuff, just the stuff that we think is cool and cute. I also have a bubblegum pink Fuzzibunz diaper for him, and a flower-print diaper. I want him to learn to appreciate all kinds of beautiful things.

Also, I was watching Disney's Peter Pan the other day, and I noticed for the first time that baby Michael wears a pink sleeper while Wendy wears a blue nightgown!

posted by exxon23 on April 2nd 2007 at 9:54am
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I agree, in order to break down the stereotypes of gender specific colors, we have to stop referring to them in terms of having any association with gender.

I'll have to check out Peter Pan now!

posted by rperls on April 2nd 2007 at 10:32am
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If I ever have a room set aside solely for baby, the walls will be white. White denotes psychologically a clean slate, and that is exactly what babies are (except with regards to diapers). If the room is set aside for baby, it will most likely be theirs when they get older as well. When the kid is old enough to want or have a preference for what their room looks like, we'll decorate it to their preferences.

Having said that, I also love exxon23's philosophy. I'm leaning towards not knowing the sex because then no one will give me gender-specific stuff. I had a friend who did that and got all bath stuff for a baby shower, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.

posted by Kate The Great on April 3rd 2007 at 4:01pm
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KateTheGreat - Another significant point I forgot to mention! Since we didn't know what sex our baby was, people actually gave us useful gifts at our shower instead of 8,000 gender-specific outfits!

posted by exxon23 on April 7th 2007 at 9:36am
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