Is Pink The New Blue?

From the moment you discovered you were pregnant you have probably been bombarded with the question ‘pink or blue?” When you head to a baby store you will notice that most girl items are pinks and purples while most boy items are different shades of blues. And when you go out with your baby it is often the colour of their blanket that tips people off to their gender. Why is this? Why is blue delegated to boys and pink to girls? And what happens if your child decides to step outside of these designated colour boundaries?

What’s in a Colour?

Where did this whole pink and blue thing start? There are several renditions depending on the culture. Before 1920 all children in European countries were dressed in either blue or white as these were the available colours. At the turn of the century, boys were dressed in pink and girls in blue because pink was considered the ‘stronger colour.’ Blue was associated with calmness and purity while pink was related to the more aggressive and active red.

In ancient Greece, blue was associated with the colour of the sky of the gods and considered good luck. Boys were often dressed in blue as having a boy was considered good luck. In ancient China, however, pink was associated with a readily available dye and thus quite inexpensive and easy to come by. Dressing your boy in blue was a way to show your social and economic status. A boy dressed in blue meant that the family had standing in the community.

There have been several studies around the world that have asked what colour boys and girls prefer. Many studies have concluded that boys gravitate towards the colours on the blue end of the spectrum while girls tend to stick to the red end. However, is this innate or is this due to being brought up in a society that teaches these colour boundaries?

Dressing Your Boy in Pink

The good news today is that most people are a little more open to all colours on children. If you do decide to dress your baby boy in pink, then so what? Good for you. Furthermore, if your boy does decide he likes the colour pink and chooses to wear pink on his first day of school, then does it really matter? As long as it doesn’t matter to him, then it shouldn’t matter to you either. If your boy chooses to dress in pink this doesn’t mean he will be a gender confused individual. This is the same as if your daughter decides she wants to play with race cars. It is important for everyone to let go of these stereotypes and to let children be, regardless of what colour they like.

Of course, it can be hard to explain this to a child. When your son comes home from school in tears because the boys teased him for wearing his favourite pink shirt, then what can you say? Be honest. Let him know that pink is often associated with girls but this doesn’t mean it is a girl colour.  Don’t be afraid to step outside the colour boundary and let your child choose what colours they do and don’t like themselves.