When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? • Hacker News Board

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#41

Post by pajaroloco » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 12:08 AM UTC

meepmorp wrote: post #38

Dewie wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sorry to be crude, but there is a very non-arbitrary reason for pink to be associated with females (and to a lesser extent, blue with males). You're excusing yourself for being crude? How is this crude? > Sorry to be crude, but there is a very non-arbitrary reason for pink to be associated with females (and to a lesser extent, blue with males). In fact I always assumed this was indeed the cause for the association…

> So what is the non-arbitrary reason? The one mentioned in the article? You seem smart enough to have figured out the implication, but I believe s/he meant that the inner portion of the labia and opening to the vagina are pink; the word pink is also used as a slag term for the female genitalia.

What passages from the text made you think she meant that?

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#42

Post by meepmorp » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 12:50 AM UTC

pajaroloco wrote: post #41

meepmorp wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So what is the non-arbitrary reason? The one mentioned in the article? You seem smart enough to have figured out the implication, but I believe s/he meant that the inner portion of the labia and opening to the vagina are pink; the word pink is also used as a slag term for the female genitalia.

What passages from the text made you think she meant that?

This part:

> Sorry to be crude, but there is a very non-arbitrary reason for pink to be associated with females (and to a lesser extent, blue with males).

I thought the unstated crude, very non-arbitrary reason the grandparent poster aluded to was clear, but spelled out what I thought it to be in case I'm either wrong or someone didn't draw the inference.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#43

Post by shirro » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 1:13 AM UTC

I am sure with higher infant mortality and bigger families there were massive cost savings in gender neutral clothes for small children. We have our first girl due. I went to the local semi-quality big chain store and a stack of nice pink onesies were on the rack for under $5 (AUD) each. I got them to the self-checkout and found they were all marked down to around $3 which is less than a large cup of coffee around here. So although we will reuse our huge supply of robot, dinosaur and truck outfits, colour coding her gender in public for the benefit of strangers isn't going to be a huge financial burden.

More pissed off with the pink toy aisles. I can buy my boys a semi-decent quality kitchen to play Gordon Ramsey in for $110 AUD on special at the same store available in pastel pink only (all the kitchens stuff has pictures of girls on it and is pink - all designed by or for Americans I guess). A similar gender neutral product in the same store is available by online order only for nearly twice the price. So the boys have a pink kitchen because fuck it - boys cook and women haven't been trapped in a kitchen for decades.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#44

Post by pajaroloco » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 1:27 AM UTC

meepmorp wrote: post #42

pajaroloco wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What passages from the text made you think she meant that?

This part: > Sorry to be crude, but there is a very non-arbitrary reason for pink to be associated with females (and to a lesser extent, blue with males). I thought the unstated crude, very non-arbitrary reason the grandparent poster aluded to was clear, but spelled out what I thought it to be in case I'm either wrong or someone didn't draw the inference.

My bad, I thought you were sourcing the article.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#45

Post by meepmorp » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 2:13 AM UTC

Dewie wrote: post #40

meepmorp wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So what is the non-arbitrary reason? The one mentioned in the article? You seem smart enough to have figured out the implication, but I believe s/he meant that the inner portion of the labia and opening to the vagina are pink; the word pink is also used as a slag term for the female genitalia.

Well in that case: the penis glans is pink.

Sure. I'm not endorsing the theory, merely stating it more directly (or so I think - I might be wrong).

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#46

Post by circa » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 2:15 AM UTC

do you not get the Victorias Secret catalog?

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#47

Post by bobwaycott » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 2:41 AM UTC

> Today’s color dictate wasn’t established until the 1940s, as a result of Americans’ preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers.

That is the bit of history I'd like to read far more about, from primary sources. Specifically to suss out whether manufacturers and retailers interpreted these color preferences or manufactured them.

Also, it's annoying when sites inject links and other shit into copying and pasting a sentence from the article to quote it elsewhere.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#48

Post by eeky » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 2:43 AM UTC

Dewie wrote: post #24

It is interesting that some social conservatives (or maybe just non-liberals?) care about consciously enforcing gender roles through clothing. This would seem to imply that they are similar in their beliefs with feminists when it comes to the nature/nurture question: that gender is enforced through culture. But this is usually thought of as a very liberal idea (or whatever I should call it). Pink as an effeminate col…

gender is enforced through culture

No. Gender/sex is a result of objective biological differences.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#49

Post by eeky » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 2:46 AM UTC

bobwaycott wrote: post #47

> Today’s color dictate wasn’t established until the 1940s, as a result of Americans’ preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers. That is the bit of history I'd like to read far more about, from primary sources. Specifically to suss out whether manufacturers and retailers interpreted these color preferences or manufactured them. Also, it's annoying when sites inject links and other shit into copying an…

>manufacturers and retailers interpreted these color preferences or manufactured them.

Interpreted. There isn't a monopoly on clothes manufacturing so if a trend emerges it was likely organic and driven by the consumer.

Re: When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

#50

Post by ars » Sun, Jul 21, 2013, 2:56 AM UTC

Dylan16807 wrote: post #22

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!"

>"How old are they?" "When did you have them?" "Are they a boy or a girl?" "They are adorable." Those sentences sound completely normal and grammatical to me.

> Those sentences sound completely normal and grammatical to me.

Only if you are talking about more than one person. If you are talking about a single person those sentences sound bizarre.