Gender Bias and the Color Pink

[Delzac]

Hi all,

why is it that girls are more generally acceptable to the colour pink? (e.g. painting the whole room pink and wearing pink clothings etc.)

And guys tend to shunt away from pink colour ?

Is it pre-programmed into our mind?

 

[chroot]

I'd speculate that it's just social conditioning. Perhaps there are some studies that answer the question definitively, but I don't know of any.

- Warren

 

[EmilK]

According to the Swedish science magazine Illustrerad Vetenskap, which happens to be the biggest of its kind in the Nordic countries, the reason behind this particular use of color seem to be indeed related to social (and religious) conditions, if not only as a remnant from the past.

Different colors mean different things in different countries. The two sections claim that the initial reason blue is used for boys clothing is that blue is the same color as the heaven and therefore the color of God. It seems that it was important to protect the boys against evil, as boys was considered more value. Goethe connected red and pink with women and feminine creatures.

http://www.illvet.se/Crosslink.jsp?d=184&a=1218&id=7550_6
http://www.illvet.se/Crosslink.jsp?d=184&a=1218&id=8513_6

They do not have an international edition, so this was the best I could provide at this point in time.

 

[nannoh]

Hi all,

why is it that girls are more generally acceptable to the colour pink? (e.g. painting the whole room pink and wearing pink clothings etc.)

And guys tend to shunt away from pink colour ?

Is it pre-programmed into our mind?

The colour of a light or pigment will affect an organism significantly. This is most evident when you see horticulturists using red light at a specific stage of the growth of their plants to stimulate flowering.

In humans the princible is the same. There are universal effects observed when colours are introduced to individual subjects.

With regard to pink it was shown that pink walls in a prison would reduce aggressive behavior, but only for a few days. Then there was an opposite effect.

Pink
Pink is an interesting color because it has the cultural associations of being feminine, but it goes farther than that. Research shows that pink rooms reduce angry behavior at least temporarily. Some attempts have been made to use pink in prisons to control aggressive prisoners.

Pink generally is a comfort color and is favored by many for its sweet, childlike appeal. It´s a good choice for a young child´s room; young girls often like pink and lavender combinations.

Again, as has been said here, its unclear whether girls like lavender and pink or their parents and society like to see girls in pink and lavender.

For a description of basic colours and their attributes go to

http://www.demesne.info/Improve-Your-Home/Choosing-Interior-Color.htm

This information is meant for interior design but stems from research specifically designed to study the effects of colour on the organism.

 

[neutrino]

Goethe connected red and pink with women and feminine creatures.

Any reason as to why he did that?

 

[Moonbear]

Again, as has been said here, its unclear whether girls like lavender and pink or their parents and society like to see girls in pink and lavender.

I know I'm only N=1, but I had, um, atypical parents. My childhood bedroom was bright green and blue, and I've never really had much of a liking of pastels of any kind...my favorite colors are very dark blues and reds. I haven't really come across studies where children were raised from infancy without such social biases in their surroundings to determine if they had any different color preferences as they grew older than babies raised with more traditional pink and blue pastel schemes. My personal opinion (not scientific fact by any stretch) is that it is socially determined.