Sex and gender are two concepts that still make it difficult for people to distinguish between them. Although sex is biological, gender finds its roots in the social construct that the society we live in adheres to. Despite the different discourses on gender identity and fluidity, sex and gender overlap.
This overlap has resulted in different norms constraining gender fluidity and dividing genders into male and female. With strict distinction, intangibles such as color were also divided into categories – blue and pink – for men and women respectively. The concept has been in flux for so many years that it’s an innate feeling that blue is for boys and pink is for girls. But, how did it come to this? Let’s get to the bottom of this.
Past
In her book “Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls From the Boys in America,” author Jo B. Paoletti talks about how these colors came to be associated with boys and girls. She wrote extensively about the formation of an idea that, over time, was transformed into a full-fledged rule.
It all started in the 19th century with the advent of pastel colors. Pastels were highly luminescent and low in saturation that complemented babies’ hair and eyes. Blonde hair went with the color blue and brown hair went with pink. When this association was introduced, blue was assigned to girls because the color was dainty, and pink was assigned to boys because it conveyed a more decisive quality.
This assignment turned a new page a few decades later when this color association was reversed in the 1960s. Now pink became the color of girls as it had a red hue signifying emotions and love while blue was reserved for boys. This was also the time when industrialization was still flourishing and capitalism was expanding with every breath.
This game of pink and blue found a larger category of players – the retailers and manufacturers – who had the idea to take advantage of this association. Because prenatal testing was still considered ethical at the time, toys, decorations, clothes, and whatever else started to wear pink and blue.
Gift
The age of the internet and the deluge of information has caused people to correct their understanding of the world to a great extent. But that didn’t change the deep-seated concepts that make us follow unconsciously. We all talk about gender fluidity and gender rights, but gender reveal parties still exist.
Not just common people, but celebrities, who are quite vocal about a range of issues, social or otherwise, follow the norm and announce the gender of their babies with blue and pink. Many people still feel creepy when we see someone break the distinction and enjoy the shades of gray in between.
Future
Breaking through the rigidity of the social structure and liberating gender from the clutches of society is a task that requires collective effort and collective conscience. Being good with gray in a world that pushes each other toward black or white should be ingrained, just as the role of pink and blue was ingrained for decades. And maybe we start to cherish colors as colors and not as categories.
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