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When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#11

Post by zanny »

Retric wrote: post #5
ams6110 wrote: post #2

Never heard that dresses were gender-neutral for small children in the 19th century. Seems I've seen plenty of old photographs that show boys wearing traditionally "masculine" clothing, though commonly with short pants, transitioning to long pants during adolescence.

It's hard to say if a 5 year old is a boy or girl withought clothing identifiers so it's not always obvious. However, from a practical standpoint a dress takes less effort to make, you don't outgrow them as fast, and it makes changing faster so I can see why it would be the gender neutral choice.

But why does it need to be obvious? Traditionally sexism led to people liking to flout their boys, but today I would hope we would be passed this (albeit pie in the sky thinking, we obviously aren't past whats in a kids nethers).

I can't wait for the day people just don't give a crap if the 5 year old has a dick or not.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#12

Post by nostromo »

zanny wrote: post #11
Retric wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to say if a 5 year old is a boy or girl withought clothing identifiers so it's not always obvious. However, from a practical standpoint a dress takes less effort to make, you don't outgrow them as fast, and it makes changing faster so I can see why it would be the gender neutral choice.

But why does it need to be obvious? Traditionally sexism led to people liking to flout their boys, but today I would hope we would be passed this (albeit pie in the sky thinking, we obviously aren't past whats in a kids nethers). I can't wait for the day people just don't give a crap if the 5 year old has a dick or not.

For me it's the simple issue about knowing which gender pronoun to use. It seems rude to call someone's child "it."

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#13

Post by 1123581321 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #9

One practical aspect of the same clothes until age 6 is that kids grow so fast you need to re-use clothes. In the 18th and 19th century when having clothes made was much more expensive, and the number of children a family had was high, the re-use would have been essential. Any parent today who has had two kids of one sex and then the third comes along of the other sex finds they have a bunch of boxes of things that t…

I find neutral clothing is not necessary because parents with older children are always handing down clothes of all colors. I would guess that having differently colored clothes means more are produced overall, but I think it is an acceptable price to pay for variety.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#14

Post by CapitalistCartr »

ronnier wrote: post #6
ams6110 wrote: post #2

Never heard that dresses were gender-neutral for small children in the 19th century. Seems I've seen plenty of old photographs that show boys wearing traditionally "masculine" clothing, though commonly with short pants, transitioning to long pants during adolescence.

My guess is that it was very rare but because of agendas, it'll be played up and mentioned to seem as though it was more common than it actually was. Just me guessing... knowing nothing about the subject.

Yes, you don't know. This isn't a matter of opinion or guessing; its a matter of established fact, with lots of written and photographic documentation. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan supposedly said: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." You add nothing to a rational discussion with nasty slander.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#15

Post by neeee »

nostromo wrote: post #12
zanny wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why does it need to be obvious? Traditionally sexism led to people liking to flout their boys, but today I would hope we would be passed this (albeit pie in the sky thinking, we obviously aren't past whats in a kids nethers). I can't wait for the day people just don't give a crap if the 5 year old has a dick or not.

For me it's the simple issue about knowing which gender pronoun to use. It seems rude to call someone's child "it."

I think "they" is preferred over "it", and not rude at all.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#16

Post by chipsy »

neeee wrote: post #15
nostromo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's the simple issue about knowing which gender pronoun to use. It seems rude to call someone's child "it."

I think "they" is preferred over "it", and not rude at all.

When pronoun is unknown, "they" is the common choice. At queer conferences it is becoming the practice to include preferred pronouns on your name tag.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#17

Post by nostromo »

neeee wrote: post #15
nostromo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's the simple issue about knowing which gender pronoun to use. It seems rude to call someone's child "it."

I think "they" is preferred over "it", and not rude at all.

Really? That sounds worse to me...

"How old are they?" "When did you have them?" "Are they a boy or a girl?" "They are adorable."

I would probably just drop the pronoun completely.

"How old?" "When did you give birth?" "Boy or girl?" "So adorable!"

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#18

Post by rdouble »

nostromo wrote: post #17
neeee wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "they" is preferred over "it", and not rude at all.

Really? That sounds worse to me... "How old are they?" "When did you have them?" "Are they a boy or a girl?" "They are adorable." I would probably just drop the pronoun completely. "How old?" "When did you give birth?" "Boy or girl?" "So adorable!"

If you say "how old is they?" or "they is adorable" it will sound cooler, like you're speaking some sort of patois.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#19

Post by nostromo »

rdouble wrote: post #18
nostromo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? That sounds worse to me... "How old are they?" "When did you have them?" "Are they a boy or a girl?" "They are adorable." I would probably just drop the pronoun completely. "How old?" "When did you give birth?" "Boy or girl?" "So adorable!"

If you say "how old is they?" or "they is adorable" it will sound cooler, like you're speaking some sort of patois.

I just read this fun Wikipedia article for language nerds:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

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