Colors: The Social Construction Of Gender

Boynton, R.M. 1987. Color. In McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology (Vol. 4, 165-166) McGraw-Hill, Inc.

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

     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

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

In the article, “Doing Gender,” West and Zimmerman (1987) argues the concept of gender as a social activity or interaction, as opposed to an intrinsic individual value. These activities and interactions are socially constructed norms of male and female, masculinity and femininity. To further explain gender, the authors define 3 important concepts: sex, sex category, and gender. Sex refers to biological factors (e.g., hormones, genitalia), sex category refers to visual markers (e.g., dress, hairstyle), and gender is the interactive piece. The authors state that doing gender is always certain and ongoing as it is embedded in everyday life (e.g., the way we dress, walk, sit, and communicate) and it is the individual who holds sole responsibility

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.

“Girls don’t like trains!” (Orenstein, 2011, p 3). “Daisy threw a tantrum when I tried to wrestle her into pants’ or ‘as if by osmosis she has learned the names and gown colour of every Disney Princess” (Orenstein, 2011, p 3). Companies, brand, organizations, have separated clothing for males and females and have very little gender neutral or unisex selection (Peck, 2014). The female clothes tend towards the pinks and purples with frilly dresses and they play with Barbie’s while the male’s clothes are blues and greens and they play with trucks

Blue Girls and Pink Boys Outside of one’s reproductive organs, what makes a male, male and a female such? The difference between the two genders many times reach further than this distinction. Despite this, society has a myriad of generalizations and stereotypes harmful to individuals that dictate how both males and females act and feel. Gender stereotypes are harmful because they ascribe personality traits and characteristics based on gender alone and work to limit the personal development of that individual. The story “The Man Who Was Almost A Man” by Richard Wright, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid and various other sources help further develop this point of view.

Unconsciously, we have all been affected or can relate to the effects of gender role stereotyping. From the day we were born, we are labeled as either boy or girl. Although, society has changed its norm in gender roles, many of our traditions have not. In the gender stereotype, we commonly relate a boy with the color blue, and a girl with the color pink. Gender roles have been instilled in us from past generations, due to the way that society was. Gender labeling is still influenced today through children’s toys, where toys are designed differently according to each gender. Through media, society persuades into the ideology of how gender role should be considered acceptable or not.

Why is it that nearly everything: behaviors, clothing, music, patterns of speech, colors, toys, occupations, and much more, have a gender pre-assigned to them? Many, if not all of these things are unisex yet are considered to be manly or girly; they’re unnecessarily gendered. For example, in Michael Kimmel’s “Bros Before Hos: The Guy Code”, he exposes the almost cult-like patterns of behavior forced upon boys from a young age, called the Guy Code. This “Code” includes the following: “boys don’t cry, it’s better to be mad than sad, take it like a man, nice guys finish last,” and other ridiculous rules that can cause damage to a young boy’s psyche. As one can see, these are namely to do with emotions and expressing them; it tells boys that

At a very young age we are introduced to a gender identity based upon the sex we were born with. Girls are associated with the color pink, dolls, nurturing tendencies, and inclined to be more emotional. While boys are associated with the color blue, the nature of masculinity, sports, and said to be more outspoken. However, gender and sex are two different things. Sex is the biological differences between female and male, while gender is social construct attached with social roles

Gender roles in society, throughout history, has been the leading cause of social expectations, and gender stereotypes, which has influenced children’s social identity. Notably, in the early eighteen century, society did not represent infants as a separate gender, but as an equal individual. Although, in the 1920s, the classification of sex identity started to emerge because of social changes occurring in the labor force. As a result, gender colors such as, pink and blue were highly used to provide variety in children’s clothing. Consequently, the symbol of pink and blue created an identity and the social expectation of gender representation. The media then used social associations to promote gender separation on children’s toys.

We are taught Gender by our family members from a very young age. For example, girls receive pink gifts and boys receive blue gifts. Shaw & Lee said, “Gender is embedded in culture and the various forms of knowledge associated with a given community.” (Shaw&Lee, p.116.) For example, in one community it might be acceptable for a girl to play football, and in another community the members believe, girl