# Why is pink considered a "girl's" color? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2000, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597 "2000-12-29T00:02:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@elite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elite)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597/1 "2000-12-29T00:02:42Z")
Why is pink considered a “girl’s” color and blue a “boy’s” color? ---
**Author:** ![Upham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Upham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Upham)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597/2 "2000-12-29T00:07:03Z")
Because the Pink stork brings the girls and the blue stork brings the boys, silly Or so mother always told me… Upham ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597/3 "2000-12-29T02:27:54Z")
IIRC baby boys were wraped in an expensive blue fabric to ward off evil spirits or something like that back in the olden days. Girls were not thought as important enough to invest in the anti-evil spirt color- so they got whatever the parents could get. I think pink came later just because boys had a color. Not even sure that is true, but sounds good. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597/4 "2000-12-29T02:44:45Z")
Been there, done that: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=32984](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=32984) ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597/5 "2000-12-29T03:36:06Z")
I think K2Dave is right, except for one thing. Pink was chosen because it complimented the boys’ blue. ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597/6 "2000-12-29T03:58:11Z")
Here comes Peace with a scientific explanation: the X chromosome is pink under the microscope, the Y chromosome is blue (H&E). ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597/7 "2000-12-29T05:49:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yabob \* > \*\*Been there, done that: > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=32984](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=32984) > \*\* In this thread, it was pointed out that German tank battalions wore pink on their epaulettes. The US Army for a time also sported pink as part of their dress uniforms, also called “pinks” although I believe it was restricted to trousers and one could choose OD ( olive drab ) instead. Please correct if I am mistaken. Q ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597/8 "2000-12-29T06:26:48Z")
In the US army, “pink” was a slang term for the color of the trousers. The army specs claim that it was a lighter shade of Olive Drab, although in the pictures I’ve seen, it looks more gray than olive. My father, who served in the war, told me the trousers were gray. ---
**Author:** ![barstow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/90db22/32.png) [@barstow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barstow)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-pink-considered-a-girls-color/47597/9 "2000-12-29T17:14:30Z")
A couple of the best-known paintings are \*\*The Blue Boy \*\*by **Thomas Gainsborough** and **Pinkie** by **Sir Thomas Lawrence** , now in the Huntington Museum’s collection. [http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0873281705.01.LZZZZZZZ.gif](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0873281705.01.LZZZZZZZ.gif) These were widely distributed as posters at the dawn of paper printing of artworks, and appeared in some classroom in every school I’ve been in as icons of romantic youth.