No me digáis que a estas alturas de la vida no estáis ya más que hartos de clichés y estereotipos. Eso de que el rosa es para las niñas y el azul es para los niños no es que esté pasado ( por fin) de moda es que quiero que sepáis que no siempre fue así. Asociar colores con géneros es una soberana tontería y el que lo haga es que tiene un problema en su cabeza. Dicho esto, las posibilidades que nos ofrece este color son infinitas, especialmente ahora en primavera. La clave está en no pasarnos, en no parecer una fresa andante o la Pantera Rosa en persona.
Pink is a color that, throughout the 20thcentury and, apparently, in the beginning of the 21st century too, has been strongly associated with the idea of “girliness”. This link was so strong, that in many societies it has become a great taboo for men to enjoy the color pink in general and to wear it.
It’s amazing how a whole craze was able to arise from a single color. Pink is a pale red color that owns its name to the flower with the same name, pink, also known as dianthus. Today, pink is culturally seen as opposing the color blue or pale blue, which are associated with boyhood and masculinity. But has this always been the case?
De un tiempo a esta parte casi todos los diseñadores o marcas de moda meten algo de rosa en las colecciones para hombres de primavera/verano. Si os gusta adelante. Hemos crecido con la idea de que todo lo rosa es de chicas y todo lo azul es de chicos, y así lo hemos continuando asociando en nuestra madurez. Sin embargo, hubo un tiempo en el que los bebés no tenían color, todos vestían de blanco nuclear y con vestido de algodón hasta los 6 ó 7 años.
The answer is NO, it might come as a surprise to many to find out that once upon a time, the color associated with masculinity was in fact… pink. So much for the ancient times theory. Moreover, the once upon a time was not even so long ago. In the 1800s, even though most children would simply wear white clothes, it was actually quite common for boys to be dressed in pink and for girls to be dressed in blue. When this “trend” started is not quite sure, but in 1794, Xavier de Maistre, a French author said in his work “A Journey Around My Room” that he recommends men to paint their rooms pink and white, as it would improve their mood.
Los tonos pastel llegaron como tendencia en el siglo XIX, pero en ningún caso para definir género. No es hasta después de la I Guerra Mundial cuando encontramos la primera diferenciación entre estos dos colores. Y aquí viene la sorpresa: la revista Earnshaw's Infants' Department publicó en 1918 lo siguiente: “La regla generalmente aceptada es rosa para los chicos y azul para las chicas. La razón es que el rosa es un color más decidido y fuerte, más adecuado para los niños, mientras el azul, que es más delicado y refinado, es mejor para las niñas”. Esto era la tendencia y, como todo, tardó en calar en la sociedad, eso y que cada gran almacén decidía por sí mismo qué color asignar a cada sexo.
So when did it become an unwritten rule that boys should wear blue and girls should wear pink and how did it come to be such a taboo for men to wear pink?
During the 1920s, it was actually more common for boys to be dressed in pink and for girls to be dressed in blue. However, this was not such a popular thing as it is today, as most people chose to ignore this type of norms. One of the earliest references to blue being a boys’ color and pink being a girls’ color comes from June 1918, when a trade publication called “Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department” wrote that “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.”
La concepción final que tenemos hoy en día respecto a estos dos tonos, llegó hacia 1940, cuando después de la II Guerra Mundial se decidieron cambiar las tornas básicamente porque sí y porque, por moda, los retailers decidieron establecerlo de este modo. Y nosotros, lo aceptamos. O casi, porque entre que la masa lo aceptaba y el conato feminista de los años 60, en el que las madres decidieron vestir a sus hijas igual que a los chicos por la igualdad de género (hecho que provocó que durante dos años los grandes almacenes Sears no produjeran ropa de bebé rosa), las prendas sin género para bebés continuaron prácticamente vigentes hasta mediados de los 80, cuando definitivamente se asentó la idea de niños de azul y niñas de rosa.
The colors and gender trends swapped during the 1940s, for no apparent reason, but it wasn’t long until pink was a color associated with girliness. It has been simply concluded that boys like blue more and girls like pink more, but studies from that time have shown that in fact, both genders preferred blue to pink. In actuality, pink was one of the least favorite colors among adults. This interesting detail is very important, as, in a society that was obsessed with strict gender roles; everything that was considered derogatory was associated with women. Another very interesting thing is that, while blue is associated with both boys and grown men, pink is associated only with young girls, and not so much with adult women.
Si Volvemos al inicio del párrafo anterior, a los años 40, debemos recordar el efecto babyboom tras la II Guerra Mundial, niños que, nacidos tras este periodo, alcanzaron la madurez en los 80, que crecieron con la nueva honda genero-cromática y que comenzaron a aplicarla a sus propios bebés a finales del siglo XX. Y aquí está la explicación.
En resumen, todos los bebés vestían fácilmente de blanco hasta que llegaron las modas y los grandes almacenes decidieron separarlos por sexos y color. Fin de la historia. Ahora que cada uno haga lo que quiera.
It is amazing how today too we often fall victims of our own past, fear-driven paradigm. In fashion, pink was often a color associated with homosexuality as well, as gay men were also a taboo during the 19thand 20th century. The reason why this has not changed faster is because nobody wanted to be the one to stand up for the idea that men and women are equal and that pink is just a color. The reason why nobody stood up is because a person associated with a taboo idea becomes taboo him or herself too. Being a social taboo leads to becoming an outsider, which is contrarian to human nature – we all have a strong need for belonging.