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Jo B. Paoletti

Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America Hardcover – Download: Adobe Reader, February 6, 2012

by Jo B. Paoletti (Author)

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"When did we start dressing girls in pink and boys in blue?" To uncover the answer, dress historian Jo Paoletti looked at advertising, catalogs, dolls, baby books, mommy blogs and discussion forums, and other popular media to examine the surprising shifts in attitudes toward color as a mark of gender in American children's clothing. She chronicles the decline of the white dress for both boys and girls, the introduction of rompers in the early 20th century, the gendering of pink and blue, the resurgence of unisex fashions, and the origins of today's highly gender-specific baby and toddler clothing.

Print length

192 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Indiana University Press
Publication date

February 6, 2012
Dimensions

6 x 0.78 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

025300117X
ISBN-13

978-0253001177
See all details

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The author is skilled in writing to a wide audience." ―Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences

"In Pink and Blue, Paoletti presents an interesting portrayal of an important gendered
system―a historical perspective that psychologists might otherwise underestimate and
undervalue." ―PsycCritiques

"Recommended for: Those interested in the history of fashion, gender studies, and gender politics." ―

"Jo Paoletti provides a compelling examination of 125 years of children's clothing in this volume, raising issues with broad ramifications for understanding the cultural history of the United States between the late-nineteenth and early-twenty-first centuries." ―Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"Pink and Blue challenges the cultural panic over how children’s clothing affects gender and sexual identity. Paoletti shatters myths about what girls and boys "naturally" like, and does so with details that will fascinate both the casual and professional reader." ―Peggy Orenstein, Author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter

"This is a fascinating piece of American social history, perhaps raising more questions than it answers. It is of potential interest to students and professionals in fields ranging from child development to gender studies to fashion to marketing, as well as to new and prospective parents." ―Library Journal

"Ms. Paoletti has managed to cram a wealth of information in a relatively fluid narrative that scholars will undoubtedly quote and casual readers will enjoy as an engrossing cultural history of parenthood, as well as childhood." ―Worn Through

"Pink and Blue is meticulously researched, with references to paper dolls, old retail catalogs and the arcane field of material culture studies. Her findings are fascinating." ―PopMatters

"In Pink and Blue, Jo Paoletti delivers an insightful analysis of the origins, transformations and consequences of gender distinctions in children’s dress over the last 125 years.... A must-read." ―Daniel Thomas Cook, The Commodification of Childhood: The Children’s Clothing Industry and the Rise of the Child Consumer

"Pink and Blue is an interdisciplinary tour de force. Readers will never again take gendered children’s fashion for granted." ―Susan B. Kaiser, The Social Psychology of Clothing: Symbolic Appearances in Context

"A terrific new book...if you’re getting flack from someone for dressing your boy in pink or your girl in blue...hit them with a copy of Paoletti’s book. When they come to, maybe they’ll read it and leave you alone." ―CaféMom

About the Author

Jo B. Paoletti is Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Indiana University Press (February 6, 2012)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 025300117X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0253001177
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.78 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,457,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,185 in Parenting Boys
- #2,605 in Parenting Girls
- #5,620 in General Gender Studies

Customer Reviews:
4.2 35 ratings

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Jo B. Paoletti

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Jo Paoletti is Professor Emerita of American Studies at the University of Maryland. She has spent over thirty years researching and writing about gender differences in American clothing. "Pink and Blue", her first book, tells the detail and complicated story of how baby and toddler clothing went from unisex to sharply gendered in the course of a few generations. "Sex and Unisex: Fashion, Feminism, and the Sexual Revolution", about fashion trends in the 1960s and 1970s, was published in 2015. She is currently researching "age appropriate" styles for older women for her next book.

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4.2 out of 5

35 global ratings

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Petal88

A worthwhile read for thinking parents

Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

This is a great book for anyone horrified by current pink and blue extremes for boys and girls, or anyone just interested in fashion history. Highly readable, which is impressive for an academic. I liked it a lot.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

An intriguing book

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2013

The author of this book is an academic but her book is very accessible to the layperson. In this intriguing work, Jo Paoletti uses a wide variety of sources to outline the evolution of gendered clothing for infants and young children in America.

For hundreds of years before the 18th century, Europeans & Americans uniformly dressed female and male babies and toddlers in identical ("non-gendered") clothing - namely long white dresses that were easy for mothers to sew themselves, that made diapering easy and laundering less damaging (white cloth could be repeatedly bleached with no ill effects), and that could be used by baby after baby. Parents at that time believed that accentuating the gender of babies in any way was inappropriate and inferred sexuality. Colors were gender neutral although pastel colors in general were considered appropriate for babies but if an association between a specific color & specific gender was required, it was usually boys with pink and girls with blue. By 1820, the long skirts for young children were getting shorter and pantalettes (loose pants with ruffles, lace, or other detailing worn under the dress or skirt) became common for both genders. Before 1850, it was hard for people to determine a child's gender just by looking at them but in the later 1800s, boys' clothing changed. They remained in skirts but the skirts became more "manly" - little costumes of sailors, Scottish highlanders or soldiers were common. Gradually, more parents began shifting male babies to pants when they were around 6 months of age. One factor impacting the popularity of pants was the increased availability and affordability of ready-made clothing. Another factor was the increased awareness of the desirability of activity and physical fitness for healthy children (esp. boys). The pants were made of more durable fabric, tended to be dark colors to hide dirt and were simple in design to provide optimal freedom of movement. A playground movement advocated rompers for both sexes to facilitate play. By 1905, male children's transition from skirts to the first pair of short pants and the 1st short haircut were considered the first step to manhood. During the 1920s, clothing became somewhat more gendered but neutral clothing remained popular during the Depression and during WWII so families could use hand-me-downs for their children regardless of gender. Beginning in the early 20th century, fashions and colors became symbols of gender identity. Certain colors that were once considered normal for any baby, now were delegated to females; pink was considered babyish so it was designated as only appropriate for girls. Manufacturers were happy to push gender colors because that decreased the likelihood that parents could use the same clothing for a new baby that had been used by the previous baby. In the 1960s-80s, the women's movement put forth stronger images of women and forcefully rejected sex stereotyping including the obligatory pink. Alas, there was a subsequent cultural backlash. By the mid 1980s pink became ubiquitous for girls ages 3-7 ,as it remains today (although there are some boys & men who dare to wear pink). Pink took a long time though to achieve this hegemony. From the time when it was first suggested that color could or should denote gender, more than a century passed before pink became exclusively for girls. One factor increasing the use of pink was prenatal testing. Knowing in advance the gender of a child allowed parents & grandparents & friends to focus clothing & other purchases according to the only thing they knew about the fetus - its gender. The emphasis on conservative gender roles and clothing coincided with the Reagan era and the defeat of the ERA. According to some theories, the children who had been raised with a unisex philosophy and unisex clothes may have rebelled against their parents and chosen differently for their own children. Young children, according to child psychologists, are uncertain of the permanence of their gender and are thus eager to affirm it. If parents allow children ages 3-7 to choose their own clothes (and that happens often these days) then they will go for pink for girls and blue for boys as they've been socialized to believe those colors affirm their gender. The author briefly discusses the possibility (likelihood?) that all of this doctrinaire emphasis on gender colors reflects a deep anxiety about homosexuality in American culture even as gay rights have become more acceptable. She also briefly discusses the trends affecting girls these days - besides the obvious pinkification, parents and children must also deal with princesses, and the sexualization of clothing.

14 people found this helpful

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Britta Wilson

Paoletti

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

This book was bought for a class project. Paoletti did a great job of describing the recent gender divide in color in the United States.

One person found this helpful

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cbeach710

This was an easy read, speaking as a grad student

Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2018

This was an easy read, speaking as a grad student, despite other review opinions. Paoletti explains any jargon used, writes concisely. Histories are kept brief without leaving out too much, no crazy generalizations.

The topics covered are interesting and lead up to modern day, within the past 5 years, which was great. Each cultural shift comes with good examples that I could easily visualize. The unisex clothing section reminded me of the pictures of my mom's childhood. Being born in '89 I can definitely attest to the gendered and ultra frilly change during the 1990s. Lace-edged socks, pink bike shorts, and an obsession with Disney's Pocahontas.....yep. Seeing the changes in styles as the generations begin to have kids makes me examine my friends' children. How will I dress my own children when I have them? What will the trend be at that point? Interesting food for thought.

4 people found this helpful

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Frank L. Hicks Jr.

Tough Guys Wear Pink

Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2012

Whether new parents; old parents; grandparents of just formally a girl or boy, "Pink and Blue" is a book that should be on your list to read; very soon. Pink and Blue is a truly great scholastic work for the everyday reader; much more than girls wear pink and boys wear blue (do you know why?).This book scans centuries of babies and the baby culture. It deals with unisex, nonsexist, homosexual and all kinds of differences in the world of babies over the first 7 years of life.Ever wonder what the affect of sexual related colors have on us as we grow up; and after? Any of you guys have the guts to dress in pink?("Tough guys were pink?")Has this simple idea of sexual color scheme affected our nation or individuality? A hundred years ago this was all reversed; so why the change? How did the 60's affect the baby culture? Jo Paoletti offers you many hours of fresh, fascinating exploration in the baby culture. Just how controlled are you over the color you wear even as adults or senior citizens? Think about that and then read about it in Pink and Blue.

12 people found this helpful

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Ashleigh V.

Eh.

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2020

Verified Purchase

I tried so hard to like this book and read it but it just wasn't very interesting. I like to think that I am able to read educated texts but this one was just blah. It read like a dissertation.

Helpful

swishina

Pink is for Everyone

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2013

I read this book for the same reason the author gives for writing it: I discovered that not very long ago, pink was considered a color for boys. This led to the discovery that the colors pink and blue were basically arbitrarily assigned. And now they have taken over.

This book outlines the history of baby and toddler dress in America over the last ~125 years. It is academic, but readable. The first chapter was a bit thick to get through but I was more interested after that. I found the diversity of sources - antique baby books, preserved children's clothing, manufacturers advertising materials - fascinating and useful. The author's analysis of the effect of various factors on what babies wear was also interesting and included aspects such as generational differences, women's liberation movement, and the recent availability of gender sonograms.

4 people found this helpful

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Ruth Carvalho

Excelente obra contemporânea sobre gênero

Reviewed in Brazil on June 20, 2019

Verified Purchase

As discussões apresentadas pela professora JO B. PAOLETTI, sobre as discussões em relação a gênero, meninas e meninos é de extrema relevância para conhecermos as origens da problemática: rosa para menina e azul para meninos na história da América.

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Cuore

Muy chulo

Reviewed in Spain on August 22, 2019

Verified Purchase

Libro muy chulo si dominas el inglés con fluidez.

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Janet

Colour-coding babies

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2018

Verified Purchase

Fascinating study of how we have come to colour-code our babies and children.

Rtrigo

Ótimo produto

Reviewed in Brazil on April 25, 2019

Verified Purchase

Exatamente o que eu esperava.
Fiel ao anúncio do vendedor.
Detalhes fornecidos antes da compra foram precisos.
Preço muito bom.

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