# What's so girly about pink?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-girly-about-pink/27740>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 1, 2000, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-girly-about-pink/27740 "2000-08-01T19:31:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2000, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-girly-about-pink/27740/21 "2000-09-23T02:32:07Z")

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I think pastels whether blue or pink would be considered quite effeminate and only appropriate for children. OTOH, those two colors are both used by men and women.

I have seen many men wearing pink shirts, including with military uniforms, and no one thought anything of it. Of course they do not call it “pink” they call the color “salmon” or something like that.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-girly-about-pink/27740/22 "2000-09-24T01:39:41Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> At one point pink was considered more of a boy’s color, as a watered-down red, which is a fierce color) and blue was more for girls. The associate of pink with bold, dramatic red clearly affected its use for boys. An American newspaper in 1914 advised mothers, “If you like the color note on the little one’s garments, use pink for the boy and blue for the girl, if you are a follower of convention.” [The Sunday Sentinal, March 29, 1914.] A woman’s magazine in 1918 informed mothers, “There has been a great diversity of opinion on the subject, but the generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink being a more decided and stronger color is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is pertier for the girl.” [Ladies Home Journal, June, 1918]

from [here](http://victorian.fortunecity.com/coldwater/428/color.html)

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**Author:** ![Salieri2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Salieri2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salieri2)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-girly-about-pink/27740/23 "2000-09-24T04:23:20Z")

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Thanks, **samclem** , for the cite. Very interesting! **stuyguy** , got any particulars regarding “some scientists”’ study? I’d be pretty intrigued by that too, if you know who, when, where. How could they possibly know what influences children’s perceptions of color??? or by what point such perceptions are formed?

[used to like pink; now prefer blue. or better, green.]

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