Pink color, also known as girlish color for a long time has been turned out to be the most
favorite color of girls. Though, the question is that the choice of pink color in girls is nurtured or
its natural? Or is it a stereotype set by people for girls that they have to like pink?
Well, a major question emerges regarding the pink color choice is that why girls like pink color? how did pink become a girly color?
Why Girls Like Pink Color So Much?
There are many myths and realities about the girl’s choice in terms of color. People do generalize on the basis of gender like – “oh look she is a girl, she must love the pink color”. And if they like black color or some other hard color, they are often termed as a tomboy.
Many researches have been conducted to find out whether girls’ attraction towards pink is related in a biological way or the reason is something else.
According to research, cultural norms are one of the crucial factors that determine a girl’s inclination for pink color. Yes, culture also tends to influence a girl’s choices.
For example – when a baby girl saw toys in the girl’s section of any market, most of the toys will be of pink color.
Even parents also love pink color most for their baby girls. And that’s how they mostly bought pink objects like pink bags, bottles, bedsheets etc. They decorate their girl child’s room with pink color and the girl’s room was surrounded by pink all over.
This way, the girl’s mind is pre-conditioned from childhood that they started getting more and more inclined towards pink color, which becomes their foremost choice.
A study from 2011 suggests that when a one-year old boy and one year old girl were shown some objects like a bracelet, toys of two different colours- pink and brown, both girl and boy picked the other color but not the pink one.
After the age of two, girls started developing an inclination for pink more than any other color. By the age of four, a mindset has been developed by society in boys that they should reject pink. This is the time when toddlers start developing a stereotype mindset and link the choice of colors directly to their respective genders.
According to the typical stereotyped society when a boy chooses pink, people often started raising questions about their masculinity and designate them as soft boy or gay. On the other hand, if a girl prefers hard colors over the candy girls, she will be termed as a tomboy. Somehow, our society has also created a mindset and they often link colors to gender.
According to research, it was discovered that in prehistoric times, women’s primary role is as a food gatherers and berries were a staple food, at that time for humans. Fruits, especially berries, mostly had purplish, reddish or pinkish color tones that signified ripeness.
Also, when it comes to expressing emotions, women take the lead. When they blush skin tone of their cheeks changes to shades of red. Pink is also considered as a shade of red. When it comes to pink color, it has been somehow associated with beauty and tenderness.
I still remember when I was in school whenever I go out for shopping with my girls’ gang when it comes to the selection of dress in terms of color they were somehow fond of pink color clothes and they mostly bought pink color tops, t-shirt even pink jeans for themselves.
But among those girls, one of my friends never liked pink color and she had never ever worn any pink color dress. But then girls started teasing her tomboy and all. That marks her beginning of wearing pink color clothes.
After some time, I observed most of the dresses she bought than are of pink color. But unfortunately, that was not her choice but the peer pressure around made her like that. The fear of not getting judged literally changed her color selection in dresses.
Isn’t it unfortunate? Isn’t it more like a stereotype? Whatever color people love most in their lives can never ever define masculinity in boys or the girlishness of girls. We have to bring this stereotype to an end.
