We all know the colors that are associated with each gender. Pink is for girls, blue is for boys, and yellow is neutral. Personally, these assigned colors have always raised a certain level of annoyance. I am a girl who loves blue and hates pink. What am I to do?
Apparently, my frustrations are shared with others. I was at the mall the other day looking at purses. I came across a mother and her young son that seemed to be at about the age of six or seven. The boy, in an effort to give his mom fashion advice, picked up a neon green purse and held it up proudly. "Mommy! Get this one! It's perfect!" The mother looked at her son knowingly and said, "No sweetie, that one isn't for me."
The young boy saw a completely convenient solution to the problem, for surely they couldn't pass up this purse! "Well can I get it? It's so pretty!"
Mother: "Um no. Boys don't get purses."
Boy: "Why not? I like this one!"
Mother: "They just don't! And they don't wear neon green."
Boy: "Why? It's green! I want it!"
At this point the mother looked fearfully at me. I shrugged and walked away. That was her battle after all.
But this little encounter made me wonder. Can boys wear neon colors? Why are these exciting bright colors supposedly reserved for the female gender? What would my response be to a male walking down the street in neon? I'm going to be honest. My first thought would be, "He must be gay." I am completely ashamed of this initial thought that it seems society has engraved into my thinking. Males should not have to be stuck with the color spectrum of dull and boring. They have every right to embrace their vibrant side and wear whatever color they desire without us making assumptions about their gender or sexual preferences. After all, it is simply a color.
Where do these assumptions come from? The only answer I have for you is society. Hallmark makes blue balloons for boys and pink balloons for girls. Naturally now, boys cannot wear pink, unless they are trying to embrace the female gender of course! How absurd is this way of thinking? From the time we are born, our gender identities are shaped based simply on the colors in which we are dressed.
These assumptions come from social reconstruction. I know that I am repeating myself because I gave the same response to the last blog but I believe it is all connected. As children we are taught gender association based on gender for example, blue is for boys and pink is for girls. Therefore when we get older we still carry around color associations and when we see people wearing colors that are not a common gender association we as a society deem it odd. Even though it is not right we still think and feel this way about color and its role in gender.
ReplyDeleteI feel like it's becoming a little more socially acceptable for males to wear neon, or brighter colors in general. I work in the Residence Halls on campus and always see male residents/students with brighter colored shirts, shoes, athletic wear, etc.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I may be more accepting to this though because I come from a family with a history of hunting--most hunters wear camo and bright neon orange. Many males in my family also wear neon colors because they work in construction-based jobs. I guess I never really thought about neon being an only feminine thing before entering college and hearing people's opinions on that.
I feel that it's definitely socially constructed--we see it all the time, we don't even think twice about it. I think it's important to be aware of it so that we're actively able change our thinking when we do stumble upon these types of situations.