Pink was not always the color of girlie girls. Once upon a time, pink was associated with boys because of its closeness to red, considered a hyper-masculine, power color. Blue was feminine and the color of the role model for all good girls: the Virgin Mary. Animated girl icons Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland were always shown in blue.
Here is some great art work by JeongMee Yoon.
He writes: “The saccharine, confectionary pink objects that fill my images of little girls and their accessories reveal a pervasive and culturally manipulated expression of femininity and a desire to be seen. To make these images, I arrange and display the cotton – candy colored belongings of several children in their rooms.”
Very interesting! I read that boys had worn pink and girls, blue — it was ages ago, in “Vested Interests” by Marjorie Garber, and I’ve wondered about it ever since. Why and when did it change? I don’t suppose you could point me to other places to read about this?
Interesting, too, that in these photos, the boy is front and centre, unmissable, and the girl is practically invisible. After I saw the boy, I went back to the first image and looked until I found her.
Odd that WordPress would automatically suggest this post at the end of a post of mine — that’s how I found you. Both interesting pieces, but in totally unrelated ways —