# Pink is for boys, Blue is for girls (revisited) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045 "2008-03-28T14:14:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/1 "2008-03-28T14:14:46Z")
Yesterday, I mentioned to my daughter, mother of twin boys, that there was a Doper thread to the effect that back in the turn of the 20th century, the colors in the headline were accepted as natural - pink for boys, blue for girls. Not surprisingly, she found this interesting and I promised to send her a link to the thread, and also the Wiki article on it. But my searches are to no avail. Can you help, please? If you want to include a short Search Tutorial, that would be nice, too. And if you want to vent on my stupidity, feel free. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/2 "2008-03-28T14:50:53Z")
I, too, remember such a thread, and I, too, cannot find it (purged, maybe?). Anyway, here what [Google Answers](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=238733) has to say. This point sticks out for me because it once left me totally flummoxed when I was reading a Rex Stout story from about 1912. A key point was supposed to be derived from the colour of the baby clothes a character was knitting, but it was the opposite of the blue for boys, pink for girls that I had grown up with and been told was universal. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/3 "2008-03-28T14:51:07Z")
Here’s a discussion on Google Answers, with relevant cites (from period magazines, etc.). [http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=238733](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=238733) ETA: Curse you, Rube! ---
**Author:** ![Galwegian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galwegian/32/3426_2.png) [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/4 "2008-03-28T14:55:02Z")
I think this is the [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=456023&highlight=pink+boys+blue+girls) you’re talking about. The third or fourth post links to the Google answer. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/5 "2008-03-28T15:01:08Z")
Nah, that ain’t it. GilaB even says, “There was an old thread that went through the pink/blue thing, but apparently it didn’t survive the purge of old stuff”. The original thread ain’t there any more. Googling “pink blue boys girls” turns up, besides the Google Answers… [http://histclo.com/gender/color.html](http://histclo.com/gender/color.html) > **[Have Pink and Blue Always Been Considered Gender-Specific Colors?](https://www.historicalindex.org/have-pink-and-blue-always-been-considered-gender-specific-colors.htm)** > > Pink and blue were not considered gender-specific colors until the 1950s. Before that time, blue was actually more closely linked... Wiki articles on “Baby blue” and “Pink” have statements that gender specific “pink/blue” colors began in the 1920s to 1940s, but IMO their footnoted cites are not good enough to pass muster on the SDMB. But then, I’m picky, and your friend’s MMV. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/6 "2008-03-28T15:04:08Z")
[QUOTE=toadspittle] ETA: Curse you, Rube! [/QUOTE] Heh, one minute difference. Funny how these things go. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/7 "2008-03-28T19:48:09Z")
[QUOTE=Rube E. Tewesday] I, too, remember such a thread, and I, too, cannot find it (purged, maybe?). Anyway, here what [Google Answers](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=238733) has to say. This point sticks out for me because it once left me totally flummoxed when I was reading a Rex Stout story from about 1912. A key point was supposed to be derived from the colour of the baby clothes a character was knitting, but it was the opposite of the blue for boys, pink for girls that I had grown up with and been told was universal. [/QUOTE] For some reason or other. I warmed to your experience. How confusing it must have been! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/8 "2008-03-28T20:47:10Z")
[Here’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=240726&highlight=blue+pink) a previous thread(from 2004). I posted to it–BUT, there WAS one previous to that, in which I also posted. That very, very old one has been purged. The bottom line is that the convention has flipped back and forth over time. ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/9 "2008-03-28T20:54:51Z")
You might also try _Blue: The History of a Color_ by Michel Pastoureau, which spends some time on the blue = feminine, pink = masculine convention and briefly mentions the 20th-century switchover. JRB ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pink-is-for-boys-blue-is-for-girls-revisited/443045/10 "2008-03-29T11:46:27Z")
Thank you all.