Thesis: When asked to state the first color that comes to mind after being prompted a word, "boy" would probably be followed by the answer blue, and "girl" followed by the answer pink. Expectant parents often automatically begin decorating a baby girl's room pink, and a baby boy's room blue. Colors signifying gender were first established around the 1940s, when companies decided that pink should be associated with girls and blue should be associated with boys. However, in response to the women's liberation movement of the 1970's, retailers were pressured to return to gender neutral or unisex clothing colors. The establishment of colors signifying gender created strict gender stereotypes, which people are currently still fighting to overcome.
The rest of my essay will first focus on research done about the establishment of the colors pink and blue for genders, and theories on how that came about. Then it'll focus on how these colors began to change. Afterwards, it'll discuss how the women's liberation movement brought about this change and the social significance of the change.
Sources
"How Pink And Blue Became Gender-Specific." Co.Design. N.p., 06 June 2013. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
"The Surprisingly Recent Time Period When Boys Wore Pink, Girls Wore Blue, and Both Wore Dresses." Today I Found Out. N.p., 16 Oct. 2014. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
"When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?" Smithsonian. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2015.
This is an interesting topic because this is an idea that is so diffused through society. The genesis of these commonplaces would be a good paradigm shift to examine. It can also incorporate significant movements to draw upon where these idea came from.
ReplyDeleteGender stereotypes are running rampant throughout our society, so you should have a fairly easy time finding information on this topic. This has always been a fascinating topic to me, so I look forward to hearing you talk about it. My only concern is that you might want to refine your thesis, it's quite broad.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really interesting! At first I thought the color difference was purely one part of the topic, but the fact that you narrowed down your subject to purely that is intriguing. I think you'll have plenty of implications and reasons for change to work with and I can't wait to hear about it. Best of Luck!
ReplyDeleteHali, interesting scope. Have you heard about the opposite shift where parents raise kids to be entirely gender-neutral? This would be useful to research, as it seems to be a counter-movement that might be extreme in its own right.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that you have multiple sentences labeled "thesis," which isn't precise. What sentence, specifically, do you see as your central claim for this essay? Be certain that you can identify it precisely, and that this claim not only identifies the shift and its time period, but also indicates its significance.
Hope that's helpful. (For the record, with three girls, my house abounds with pink....) :)