Female Gender Stereotypes in Color: What They Are, How They Came About and What They Mean

Robert Pietrzak2/27/13 Outline 1 Introduction a The purpose of this investigation is to understand what are the excuse classs for females, how they contrast with bear witness stereotypes for males, how these stereotypes squander come about and how they are reinforced. 2 Body 1 b discuss what is shortly authorized as femanine colourations/femanine fictional character of intensitys c lean much(prenominal) towards the quality of ruse how the warp is softer, lighter, with more variety of shade. the reason for this could be due to scientific reasons. d Femanine colours are generally seen as softer, lighter, more variety in shade. A possible reason for this characterization could be due to how the scholarship of coloring is distinct for females than it is for males. females occupy a wider range of color information than males. (refer to diagram) (females can more easily percieve more subtle shades of color than males can. because of this refinement these kinds of softer colour in with off- elemental shades are precieved as more femanine like. this scientific reason could be why colors are precieved this way. e why pick out these qualities been ascribed to females 3 Body 2 Contrasting evidence alike suggests that certain femanine colors are seen this way due to flub grammatical raiseuality identification and due to advertsing g Advertising strong evidence suggests that nationalizing plays a large division in determining these kinds of color stereotyping. ii show terms displaying this kind of de none. iii explain that in the past color stereotypes were actually reversed bump was considered a boys color and blue-blooded was considered a young woman color. iv when advertisers changed their brainiacs about this stereotyping in the 1920s people began to decorate polarly.This mindset has continued into today. But this change in thought suggests that advertising plays a significant role in what people consider a boys color and a girls color Robert Pietrzak2/27/13 Female Gender Stereotypes in color What they are, how they came about and what they mean. T here have been a of scientific studies that have looked for how sexuality affects color disposition and how colors relate to gender. composition they have looked at different factors and come to different finales, there has been a consensus that color stereotypes exist and for females differ from those of men.These can be attributed to physiological color dispositions that differ between genders due to evolutionary reasons. While there may be a color disposition the existance of stereotypes have its roots in former(a) factors such as the work out of media upon what is genuine as a stereotype, the actions of gender identification by consumers, and the watch of gender disposition from a young age. In their preliminary research Hurbert and burbot stated that within the long history of color preference studeis here is a definite predisposition for certain colors tha t differs across genders (Hurlbert and torsk). Hurlbert and Ling were cardinal accessible scientists that attempted to more accurately determine what these color dispositions were. They conducted a multi-step experiment to try to find out what kinds of colors were fortunate by males and females. They form that females prefered soft, bright colors such as pinkish, yellow, and purple. Males prefered darker, harder colors such as red, blue, and green. Females additionally rund towards more non-primary colors with variety in shade than males (Hurbert and Ling).This disposition was attributed to a physiological reason that it has to do with how the two genders perceive color differently. Females are able to better detect and key out a more wide range of colors than males can. Due to this they tend towards colors with more variety than males do. (Hurbert and Ling) Additionally it was suggested in their research that females by chance have this color disposition due to evolutionar y reasons. Females, being the primary caregivers, needed to be able to detect if their was or sothing wrong with her baby by detecting hues of red better than males do (Hurbert and Ling).Additionally society for humans was before set up as hunter gatherers. Due to this females were given the role of gathering maculation the males hunted. Being able to pick up on a variety of soft, bright hues could possibly have helped with gathering berries and other foods in the wild (Hurlbert and Ling). Other research has looked at the issue from a different angle if color is associated with gender stereotypes. Most color studies have looked towards the stereotype of pink being a girls color and blue being a boys color. (Hurbert and Ling).This stereotype is seen in many posers of advertising. Paoletti gives many examples of this in her novel. One such example is a deep magazine article labeled for babies that only sells change state in pink and blue for the respective genders. She states t hat advertisers stressed that new natural boys be given blue shirts, hats, cribs, etc. while girls were to be spruced up in pink (Paoletti). Especially prevalent in the baby boomer generation, pink was predominantly used with girls associated with feminine qualities and is given this characteristic in modern day society. DeLoache and LoBlue). A recent consume d integrity by Andree Pomerleau, Daniel Bolduc, Gerard Malcuit, and Louise Cossette discusses how from a actually primeval age there are drastic color differences between the two genders that stay relatively constant for their early years of development Girls wore pink and multicolored clothes more oft, had more pink pacifiers and jewelry. Boys wore more blue, red and white wearable. They had more blue pacifiers. icteric bedding was more frequently observed in the girls rooms, while blue bedding and curtains were more prevalent in the boys rooms.Women were the predominant providers of toys for tiddlerren. It thus see ms that, nowadays, very early in their development, girls and boys already experience environments which are dissimilar. Brooks besides states that this color stereotype is attributed to the influence of the media upon the population (Brooks). However this has not eternally been the case. In fact this stereotype used to be completely flipped around. In the Early 1900s pink was actually considered a masculine color while blue was considered feminine. Paolettihas documented that the North American tradition of dressing babe boys in blue and infant girls in pink began the 1920s. Prior to that decade, Paoletti storied that the sex-dimorphic color coding of pink and blue was inverted, i. e. , infant boys were dressed in pink and infant girls were dressed in blue. At one point, pink was considered more of a boys color, as a watered-down, bold, dramatic red, which is a fierce color. Instead, blue was considered more for girls. (Del Giudice) David Brooks highlights this by quoting a 1 918 article in Ladies Home Journal.It advised The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. 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 prettier for the girl. (Brooks) This arc began to change around the 1920s. As portrayed in a cadence Magazine chart, advertisers in this time period began to change what was an accepted girl color and boy color through their advertising (Advertiser Advocation for Different tinct Stereotypes in 1927).Jo Paolettti points out in her research that these influences were picked up by the baby boomer generation in response to continued media advertisement. The research does not necessarily answer why the media reversed this stereotype but it does show the power media has upon accepted stereotypes, public thought, and accepted social norms. It was able to completely reverse and change an accepted stereotype in the public mind simply through its influence. Additional research into the able of media and color genderization has found that color stereotypes are additionally reinforced by social means.Jo Paoletti explains in her book how the prevalence of this media influence was chanted by a zest to be able to tell the gender apart from another child to be an expectation as to what the child should wear and what people should bargain for for the child. People would go out and buy gender oriented robes for the new baby. The new baby would then wear this gifted clothing further cementing the stereotype (Paoletti). Different research has looked into this issue from a social standpoint but looking towards how gender conflict can influence and support accepted stereotypes.LoBlue and DeLoache conducted a large cross sectional study which contained children aged 7 months to 5 years. The Children were offered eight pairs of objects and asked to choose one. In all(prenominal) pair, one of the objects was alway s pink. By the age of 2, girls chose pink objects more often than boys did, and by the age of 2. 5, they had a significant preference for the colour pink over other colours. At the same time, boys showed an increasing avoidance of pink. The researchers were especially fascinated with was the avoidance of pink by the boys. They concluded that hese results thus circulate that sex differences in young childrens preference for the colour pink involves both an increasing attraction to pink by young girls and a growing avoidance of pink by boys. As both genders gravitate towards their gender stereotyped color avoidance had just as big of an impact as the stereotype does. As girls associate with pink, the boys feel pressured by themselves to not associate with pink, thus propagating the stereotype. (LoBlue and DeLoache). This highlights how powerful gender conflict that occurs at a young age can influence and propagate gender stereotypization.Female color stereotypization can be attrib uted to multiple possible sources and comes about for different possible reasons. A scientific reason as to why some color qualities are perceived as more feminine could be due to how females and males perceive color. On the other hand additional color stereotypes came about as the result of advertising and the influence of the media upon public opinion. This influence would be strengthened if the color genderization before the 1920s was different than what it currently is today.This would suggest, according to Paoletti, that the media have a profound, changeable effect on what the public stereotypization encompasses. However the changability of this stereotype could also highlight something else. David Brooks states in his article that this shift could also highlight the weakness such stereotypes have and how subject to change they could have The fascinating thing is how slippery the color-gender link is. It seems so hard-wired, but the link between pink and femininity may be just a cultural construct. The LoBlue and DeLoache research offers another possible conclusion that the existence of such stereotypes creates tendencies within populations to follow those stereotypes which in turn strengthen the stereotype itself through psychosocial means. Works Cited 1 Brooks, David. rap and Blue. New York clock Blogs. New York Times, 22 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. . 2 Paoletti, Jo Barraclough. Pink and Blue sexual congress the Boys from the Girls in America. Bloomington Indiana UP, 2012. Print. 3 LoBue, Vanessa and Judy S.DeLoache. Pretty In Pink The Early Development Of Gender-Stereotyped Colour Preferences. British Journal Of Developmental psychology 29. 3 (2011) 656-667. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. 4 Del Giudice, Marco. The Twentieth vitamin C Reversal Of Pink-Blue Gender Coding A Scientific Urban subtitle?. Archives Of Sexual Behavior 41. 6 (2012) 1321-1323. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. 5 Pomerleau, Andree, Daniel Bolduc, and et al. Pink Or Blue Environmental Gender Stereotypes in the First Two Years of Life. Sex Roles 22. 5-6 (1990) 359-.ProQuest Education Journals ProQuest Psychology Journals ProQuest brotherly Science Journals. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. 6 Advertiser Advocation for Different Color Stereotypes in 1927. Chart. Time Magazine. N. p. n. p. , n. d. N. pag. Pink Is for Boys. 11 Nov. 1927. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. 7 Anya C. Hurlbert, Yazhu Ling. Biological components of sex differences in color preference. Print. Current Biology, 17. 16 (2007), Pages R623-R625. (http//www. sciencedirect. com/science/article/pii/S096098220701559X) Thurs. 21 March 2012