Page 14 - Annonce 6

Pink for Boys, Blue for Girls!!!!

Have you ever wondered why being a boy is associated with products, so the sales increased; especially in children’s fashion
blue and being a girl is associated with pink? Is this a stereotype sector.
that reflects biological differences between these two genders
or is it just a tradition? Why were these two colours chosen Well, how did pink become girls’ colour and blue become boys’?
to symbolize these genders? Also, when did these sex-specific Why did the colours switch genders? Although the main cause
colours emerge? of this change is unknown, experts said that researches have
shown that girls liked pink more than blue and boys liked
Back then, pastel colours were popular in clothing, especially blue more than pink. However, this wasn’t right because as
for babies and children and the fashion industry was using the researches show, all of the genders prefer wearing blue and
this situation to its advantage. Cheap fabric dyes were used the shades of blue are among the most preferred colours! But
for pastel-coloured clothes, so the colours of the outfits faded despite this, since the late 1900’s with the lead of the French
quickly. This was pushing people to buy new clothes again and fashion industry, pink became a more “girly” colour and blue
again. Therefore, despite pastel clothing’s popularity white became a “manly” colour without any valid reason, and these
clothes were preferred because they could be worn for a longer stereotypes have become more and more strict and it ended up
time. That meant at that time there wasn’t this much gender- having a huge impact on our society.
based clothing, especially for children.
There are experiments about the impacts of gender-normed
In fact, children (both girls and boys) up to 5 years old could clothing. I will mention one of them, which is an experiment
wear skirts; this shows that gender had not affected the clothing where little babies wearing blue and pink were shown to
in that period yet. The gender norms at clothing started at the mothers. Most of the mothers played more dynamic and

end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. energetic games with the babies who were wearing blue while
In early 1900’s it had been suggested that blonds should wear they were acting kinder and gentler to the babies who wore pink.
blue and brunettes should wear pink, as a sales strategy in the This is an experiment that shows that people involuntarily
fashion industry. This was a marketing strategy for selling associate colours with genders and treat babies of two different
expensive and colourful clothes and accessories. During this sexes differently. Unfortunately, we forget that colours and
period, articles about the gender-colour relation began to clothing have no genders and everyone is free to wear whatever
appear in magazines. they want. I hope from now on you can stand behind your
preferences and be proud while wearing your favourite colour.
It was recommended to parents to make their children wear This way the society will not have any prejudices on gender-
blue if they wanted their children to be more feminine and make colour relations.
them wear pink if they wanted them to be more masculine. Yes, Öyküm Puğ
indeed, it was the opposite of today’s normal! Blue was seen as
a delicate, gentle, and cute colour so it was suitable for girls,
and pink was a stronger and sharp colour so it was suitable
for boys. According to Philip Cohen, a sociologist, these strict
gender-colour norms are all about marketing because fitting
gender norms means you are going to buy a certain product,
which helps manufacturers to determine the production
quantity of the product and guides mass marketing. As a result
of this strategy, people of different genders preferred different

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