Blue for Men Pink for Women

If the baby is born as a male, he is dressed in blue. If it is a girl, she gets the pink blanket. This is a prime example of symbolic interactionism. Starting from the very beginning, we are given certain connotations towards words or other symbols. What do you think when you hear these words? "Blue" "Pink" "Masculine" and "Feminine. ". Most people would answer with blue for a boy, pink for a girl, masculine for a man, and feminine for a woman. These immediate thoughts that pop into our head are all effects that were given to us by society. Research done by doctor Marco del Guidance reads that pink has been associated with feminity and blue with masculinity since the early 19th century. It is believed that that relationship between pink and girls, and blue and boys, is believed to have derived from mass marketing which helped spread and normalize these

The objective of this experiment was to determine if gender plays a role in color preference. In other words, do males actually prefer blue and green, while females favor pink or purple?

Gender roles have been used as a way of raising children for generations. While they have not always been the typical “pink is for girls, blue is for boys” stereotypes that we have grown accustomed to, there have always been certain roles for men and women that deem what is appropriate and what is not. Although the idea of gender roles has existed for centuries, the stereotypes themselves have evolved, leading many to believe that they are a social construct. “Up until the beginning of the 20th century, pink was actually more associated with boys, while blue was more associated with girls—illustrating how socially constructed these associations really are” (“Gender and

She states that “gender is a cultural, not a biological phenomenon (pp. 20).” Society does, in fact, construct one’s thinking about what it means to be a male or a female. Lober (2013) states that “Many cultures go beyond clothing, gestures, and demeanor in gendering children (pp. 325).” Once gender is established, society creates certain norms for that gender and if one tries to color outside of those lines, one may fall victim to

The things clothes and toys teach children about gender is to behave in a certain way, boys are rough and tough, and can do anything, and girls are polite, beautiful, and they can do some things but not all. Because of the way society has depicted clothes and toys for children, boys learn at an early age that they are the dominate one, builder, the soldier and girls learn to be pretty, more passive and well behaved. In fact, boys and girls clothing and toys can play a significant role in what field of study, or jobs they pursue, and how they perform in society.

Like Material culture, Nonmaterial culture has also contributed to gender identity. Nonmaterial Culture consist of ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society. (Loera, 2017). When parents are expecting a boy, there is a high chance that some of his first cloths, blankets, and personal items will be blue. This is because the color blue is dominant and often associated with males in mainstream culture. There is also a preconceived notion that a little boy is raised to know that he should not cry, as there is belief it is a sign of weakness. The stereotype is that women will be more emotional.

School uniforms promote conformity over individuality. A high school student in Chicago explained “They decide to teach us about people like Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony and Booker T. Washington... We learn about how these people expressed themselves and conquered and we can't even express ourselves in the hallways." Schools tell kids from their first day of class that they are different and special, but how can they believe such words if they are sitting in a classroom, wearing the same thing as everyone else in the room. It would be very hard to believe those words due to those circumstances. In schools that have specific uniforms based on sex, it’s difficult for students who identify as a gender

     Even before the children are born, parents begin choosing clothing and decorations by color based on the sex of the baby. The stereotype of pink, pastels, yellow and white for girls and bright or dark colors like green, blue and red for boys has long been a part of culture. How many times have you heard kids argue over toys because girls don’t want that icky boy color or the boys don’t want the gross girl color? This

American custom currently dictates that ‘pink is for girls and blue is for boys’. This gender-specific dichotomy of colors preserves the sexist foundation that girls ought to ‘think pink’ while boys ought to avoid all associations with femininity. In this discourse, I shall discuss Marilyn Frye’s, Sexism to highlight how societal norms such as the aforementioned color-binary in conjunction with, traditions, beliefs, and teachings all establish and sustain a sexist society which, without a full-blown revolution, is forevermore. In her work Sexism, Marilyn Frye analyzes this binary which she claims “characterizes cultural and economic structures which create and enforce the elaborate and rigid patterns of sex-marking and sex-announcing which divide the species, along lines of sex, into dominators and subordinates” (Frye 850).

In the article " Rethinking Women's Biology" the author position appeared to be that society dictates what a woman means and teaches it from childhood. The old concept of blue for a boy and pink for a girl starts out from birth and is

Within the American culture, our youth are taught that the masculine roles of the male has traditionally been associated with their role of being strong and dominant and the feminine role of a female has traditionally been associated with their role of being the follower and the nurturer. Children learn the gender roles beginning at birth through the socialization process. Historically our society has always identified male infants with blue and female infants with pink, however, with the turning of the 20th century more neutral colors are being thrown into the mix. More expecting parents are adventuring away from traditional blue and pink and choosing the neutral colors such as green and yellow. Children learn gender socialization through family members, education, other children and social media. Each reinforces the gender role by displaying and maintaining the normal expectation for each genders behavior. Our youth are taught at an early age of the separate expectations of each gender. Parents often teach the role not knowingly but through association. Boys are associated with trucks, toy guns and superheroes that teach them motor skills and independence, whereas the girls are associated with baby dolls, dress costumes, and toy kitchens which teaches them nurturing and social

Directly after a parent identifies the sex of their child, they immediately purchase infant-associated items according to their color. For example, an expecting family may buy their baby girl a pink blanket. Another expecting family may buy their baby boy a blue blanket. While this appears natural and unquestionable, predicaments like these build the basis of our sexist society. When that baby boy or girl matures, they will come to the realization that pink is a feminine color and blue is a masculine color.

Before arguing, I would like to provide some information about dress codes. Students have been complying to dress codes all of their lives. You can only wear certain clothing to school. Some families require that their children wear specific clothing to church on Sundays. School music programs require students to dress nice for concerts or events. In the past few years some girls have begun to notice unfair rules in dress codes. Li Zhou, an editorial fellow at the Atlantic Newspaper, stated that, “according to the Education Commission of the states, in the U.S., over half of public schools have a dress code, which frequently outline gender specific policies “. Female students feel they are being targeted by dress codes. Many of the school's dress codes do not limit what males wear. They just assume they won't be the problem. There are a few schools that regulate what males wear, but they just focus on the design on the shirt that they are wearing. The dress codes in school are used to limit what students wear in school. Some of them may need to be revised.

Even though only females were observed in this study I am more than positive that this same idea applies to male backpacks. When I asked some students why they chose a black backpack, outside of the observations. Some answers were what I expected, for example “Black goes with every color”, “It’s simple, and not distracting.”, “Most backpacks produced are black.” These are also the same reasons I chose a black backpack when I went shopping for one in the fall. In past school years I had done the same choosing predominantly, black or grey backpacks. I’m pretty sure if I were to redo this observation in a High School the results would be similar. Results are likely to vary more and more as you move down grade levels to Middle school. Elementary schools would most likely have the most diverse backpack

Gender role is defined as the socially constructed and culturally specific behavior and appearance expectations imposed on women (femininity) and men (masculinity). Many girls are subjected to gender role stereotyping and different treatment Through socialization, individuals learn to behave in accordance with the expectations of others in the social order (Hult, 83.). Gender ideology is involved when one attaches a color such as pink and blue to sex and when one designates types of toys as male, female or neutral. Most play behavior is an outcome of gender role stereotyping that stems from cultural ideology. Early research provides that by first grade, boys recognize sports, whereas girls recognize grades