Think pink (or don't...)
Despite having a daughter who is pinker than a pink thing, the whole gender colour issue irritates me – there is nothing more sickly-looking than a little girl who is dressed from head to toe in different shades of pink (unless it’s a little girl dressed from head to toe in just one shade of pink… ) It’s totally society-driven. Isn’t it?
So I was less than delighted to hear that it’s all down to evolution (I’ve linked to The Guardian, but it was everywhere last week.)
But then Ben Goldacre gets in on the act – read him to find the flaws in the study, and then read this – who’d have thought it? 100 years ago it was pink for a boy and blue for a girl.
(And for the record I never intended to have a pink daughter – but then I was inundated with pink hand-me-downs – I wasn’t about to relinquish perfectly good clothes, and she does interract with other people who may not see the colour/gender issue the way I do… )
nine comments:
I think my daughter decided to buck the evolutionary theory… her favourite is black or camouflage… Maybe she’s inherited her mother’s Punk gene???!There’s pink and there’s pink tho…. Yeah to magenta! Boo to sickly-Mothercare-pastel!
xxxx’s to you and Ruthie from us two
annie () (link) - 25 August '07 - 11:03
In the “nature vs nurture” argument I can see arguments for both and in the “girls wearing pink” issue I have seen evidence for the nature argument.I have two friends who have had a first born son and then had a girl. So the girl was born into a house full of boys clothes/toys/books etc. The mothers of these girls are by no means “girly” themselves and these girls have had the hand-me-down clothes of their older brothers. Both these girls reached the age of about 3 and started demanding anything pink/fluffy/glittery they could get. When given a choice of what to buy in a zoo gift shop my god-daughter chose a make-up set!
There is definitely something in our genes that makes us “girly”...both these girls go out dressed head to toe in pink but thats by their own choice against their mothers better judgement!
Wendy () (link) - 25 August '07 - 12:27
Avoided the ‘pink, fluffy, girl baby’ thing at all costs with both mine and obviously they are interspersed with two boys, so there was a lot of blue/denim/green/biege etc on the go. Maybe being quite outdoorsy helped, clothes had to be practical in style aswell as colour. Now? Rhiannon does wear a certain shade of pink from time to time, which suits her, but her favourtite colour is blue. Ciara, she professes to be a tom-boy, but not the way I remember being as a child! She likes a smattering of pink and occasionally I do have to return her to the bedroom to be de-pinked, (head to toe is a no-go in my house!) but she is happy with any colour. They both prefer trousers. (My mil did not approve of my opposition to pink when they were babies…
My preference doesn’t appear to have steered them towards or away, they’ve made a choice as they’ve grown older. Oh goodness, I gave them choice, that’s something I never do!
Louise () (link) - 25 August '07 - 12:41
at the baby showers I had all I got was pink stuff for the little girl, drove my insane lol. I loved all the gifts but now for the first year of her life she is stuck in pink and in every photograph! I’ll have to go out and get some green and aqua stuff lol.pixie () (link) - 25 August '07 - 15:57
oh and I think littel girls want pink because it’s what they see on tv and in the books and on every single tv show right now, paris hilton. I know a few girls who grew up with no tv and I have yet to see them we wear pink hah. It’s our society that teaches them what color to wear, not an “inate” female thing for pink. I have loved blue my whole life, color preference is just that, its like when some people like spicey food and some don’t. it has nothing to do with your sex. IMHO :)pixie () (link) - 25 August '07 - 16:04
I’ve been watching this debate with great amusement and all I can say (following recent experience with Fashion Victim Niece)is that all too soon she will want to wear nothing but black (with maybe just a wee touch of denim and some vampire-blood red)...rosie () (link) - 25 August '07 - 21:13
I myself love pink, not sure why, its just my color of choice. But I won’t dress the girls in head to toe pink, no way! Leah’s favorite color is purple, I have no clue why, everything is “my purple”. Gabe’s is red. One of my favorite outfits that I put Chloe in, is a aqua outfit, I think it has little butterflys or flowers on it or something. Anyways I love it because it isn’t pink!jessica () (link) - 25 August '07 - 23:27
That was hilarious. And now I have a new blog to read, thankyouverymuch. What? Cultural preference and not evolutionary? My best friend LOVES pink and was delighted to have a daughter….....who hates pink. Oh well.Carrie K () (link) - 26 August '07 - 22:49
My daughter is all pink, all the way (except when she has a choice of purple!). My biggest problem with this is that I don’t think pink flatters her so I tend to avoid it for her when the choice is mine. Which is not often.I like the evolutionary theory behind it all, but I think I prefer the one that shows women as better multitaskers (tend the fire, tend the babies, prepare the food, chew the buffalo hide or whatever) and men as more one-thing-at-a-time (Must. Kill. Deer.). It holds true in my house, anyway!
jessie () (link) - 02 September '07 - 12:27
