I wondered how we got to pink for girls and blue for boys. And what made us gender-rigid in this respect. Here's a picture of Franklin Roosevelt in a white dress, party shoes and long hair. This was the norm in 1884 - gender-neutral. It was in the 19th century, though, that colours became gender signifiers.
This is different than what has been published as the U.S. history. But then I think that is because the research in the 1980s by Paolettis and a book published in 2011 get referenced over and over, turning into an urban legend.
"The march toward gender-specific clothes was neither linear nor rapid. Pink and blue arrived, along with other pastels, as colours for babies in the mid-19th century."
"For example, a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw's Infants' Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.” Other sources said blue was flattering for blonds, pink for brunettes; or blue was for blue-eyed babies, pink for brown-eyed babies, according to Paoletti."
Wikipedia has a long survey of countries showing that pink has been generally used for girls and blue for boys. Then it chronicles pink for boys and blue for girls. The earliest references are pink for girls and blue for boys - starting in the early 1800s to 1941.
For the blue for girls and pink for boys, scroll to the end and see the US is where the reversal is revealed in the ads.
Another close-up in the Niagara Falls conservatory.
Have there always been variations of gender in humans? There are variations in plants and animals. Most plants are hermaphroditic, with 6% of species having separate males and females. Clown fish and snails can change sex. Cardinals and chickens can be half male, half female. Bearded dragons have been found to change their sex while they're in their eggs. If exposed to warmer temperatures male dragon eggs will become female, even though they genetically remain male.
The American Psychological Association says: “Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression, or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth.”
What would a clown fish or snail tell us when they change sex? There's our deficiency. We are unable to learn from other species - we are able to learn about them through scientific observation and experimentation. And we haven't wanted to know much about this in the past.
We're in an age when this is now front and centre in our social conversations. Here's a summarization of the latest iterations of transgender ideology. I found two pictoral representations - the gender bread person and the gender unicorn. Here's the unicorn:
The Intersex Society of North America has described the types and frequency of intersex birth rates. Their summary statistic says that the total number of people whose bodies differ from standard male or female is one in one hundred births. You can look at the long list of variations HERE.
Here's a small extract: " If you ask experts at medical centers how often a child is born so noticeably atypical in terms of genitalia that a specialist in sex differentiation is called in, the number comes out to about 1 in 1500 to 1 in 2000 births. But a lot more people than that are born with subtler forms of sex anatomy variations, some of which won’t show up until later in life".
From the article What is intersex: "Though we speak of intersex as an inborn condition, intersex anatomy doesn’t always show up at birth. Sometimes a person isn’t found to have intersex anatomy until she or he reaches the age of puberty, or finds himself an infertile adult, or dies of old age and is autopsied. Some people live and die with intersex anatomy without anyone (including themselves) ever knowing." This is the article HERE. The list of topics at the website is fascinating.
What picture of the day do we have? People tell me spring isn't here yet. My garden has crocuses, snowdrops, irises and witch hazel blooming - one has to look down to see them. If one is willing to visit Cole's, my local garden centre, then spring will be obvious - no need to look hard.
