Pink for a Boy, Blue for a Girl?

Many times as we visit different places with Baby, people have always said nice things when they see him. One thing we have noticed though is that some cannot figure out basic signs.

If, for example, you saw a Baby dressed mostly in blue with little anchor motifs all over, would you still ask the question: “Is it a boy or a girl?”

I suppose some could be being politically correct, but I was interested to learn that Pink for Girls, Blue for Boys has not always been the norm:

• In Western culture, the practice of assigning pink to an individual gender began in the 1920s or earlier.
  ~ “Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents”

• An article in the Ladies’ Home Journal in June 1918 said: “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 colour, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”
  ~ “Bad Science”. Out of the Blue and into the Pink.

• From 1918 until the 1940s, pink was considered appropriate for boys because being related to red it was the more masculine and decided colour, while blue was considered appropriate for girls because it was the more delicate and dainty colour, or related to the Virgin Mary.
  ~ Smithsonian.com: Jeanne Maglaty, “When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?

So as it turns out, something that I have always considered to be an age old tradition is in fact only 70 years old. It just goes to show that just because you think something is very old, doesn’t mean it really is!