to think that my DS should be able to wear pink without being mistaken for a girl?

[Tigerinmysoup]

My DS is 21 months. We went to a toddler group today and no less than two adults referred to him as being a girl. We've been going to this group for quite a while, so I'm a bit miffed anyway, but it's because he was wearing a pink t-shirt. It has happened before when he's worn it. Yes it's pink, but it has a great big green dinosaur on the front. He was also wearing tracksuit bottoms and boy-shoes.

I don't get it. He is fairly big for his age and although he has blonde curly hair, it's in a boy's style. No-one has ever said that they think he's a girl at any other time than when he's wearing pink. Over the summer he wore a pink tank-top and on several occasions strangers thought he was a girl. How many little girls wear pink tank-tops FFS?

Before anyone asks, no I am not particularly sensitive or bothered about strangers thinking that he's a girl. I just wonder why girls seem to have the monopoly on pink? AIBU to think that it's just another colour and that people are a bit thick if they assume pink=girl?

My DH takes great satisfaction in this as it proves his view that boys 'shouldn't wear pink'.

Any male, who is secure in himself, needs never fear pink.

People project their own prejudices and stupid ideals. Tell DH to man up.

I think it's probably because you don't often see baby boys in pink - I certainly don't see many anyway. I'm not saying they shouldn't wear pink but that's just the way it is. If it is any consolation my little girl has been mistaken for a boy in the past when she has been wearing what some would perhaps consider more boyish clothing

Well, pink generally does tend to be worn far more often by girls than boys. Why wouldn't a girl wear a pink tank top? Although I remember people thinking dd1 was a boy even when she was wearing a pink cardigan.

It's probably because most kids that age are hard to tell the sex of

For that reason, a lot of parents dress them in pink or blue to make it more obvious (traditionally)

So if they're unsure, I suppose they'll go with the girl option...thinking that's why you dressed him in pink.

Where are you finding all these pink clothes for boys? You are clearly going out of your way to subvert colour stereotypes, but then upset when they turn out to be just that, stereotypes. Try him in green.

I'm not surprised he gets mistaken for a girl. Pink has been so over-sold to girls that there's often little alternative for them to wear. I also think that some MOGS are sensitive about their girls being mistaken for boys so they dress them in pink. Therefore pink = girl.

I agree it's a shame for both sexes. Girls get pigeonholed right from the off with pink fluffy princessy fairy prettiness, and boys can't express themselves. However, pink has become a bit fashionable for older boys.

My DS has always had shoulder length hair.

He was once referred to as "she" when wearing jeans and a Thomas the Tank Engine jumper.

Some people are a bit narrow minded.

Long hair = girl
pink = girl
blue = boy
short hair = boy

and they malfunction if the see anything outside that.

Exactly the same used to happen to my DS, he had a pink T shirt from a multipack. He is a very "boyish" boy. He now has a navy and fushia pink striped top - think rugby shirt without the collar. He's 3, he's very much a boy, he wears it with cords and Kickers and I still get "What's her name?". Even when I say it, they "hear" the female version of it.

A couple of years ago Next did a T shirt that said "Tough enough to wear pink". I regret not getting it.

Perhaps it´s the combo of pink top & blond curls?

Works both ways though.

I used to dress my daughter in navy sweatpants & a navy/white striped long sleeved top.

"Girly" shoes & socks.

She had shortish hair-often mistaken for a boy!

I agree that you don't generally see baby boys in pink, but he's definitely past the baby stage now and looks like a little boy.
On the tank tops, I have never seen a little girl in a tank-top, but I take it back if they do..
I will indeed tell DH to man-up

Again, itis, that's because Long hair has also become much, much more common in girls. You almost never see girls now with short hair, in contrast to when I was young.

People are blinkered by the stereotyping the media and clothes companies force on us. Whenever 8 month old DD is dressed in dungarees or jeans and a non-pink t-shirt people assume she's a boy.

If you go back about 100 years pink was a colour for boys and blue was for girls.

I do think parents of little children/babies think they look (apart from the hair) more like one gender than they actually do. It's obvious to them that they have a boy, for instance, but IME, lots of little boys are far "prettier" than little girls

I got both tops from Next, in multi-packs. I wasn't going out of my way to dress him in pink.

But you are sterotyping as well in your assumption that only a boy would wear a t shirt with a big green dinosaur on the front and so everyboby should know your son is a boy regardless of what colour his t shirt is.

But you see so many boys with longer hair too now, surely people use all the cues available to them before making that sort of assessment!

itis - good point, but, until pink becomes less ubiquitous for girls, and girls start having the courage to have short hair, it ain't going to happen.

It's all down to the pinkification of girls, IMO

Pink Stinks

Sorry OP, am laughing a bit at the phrase "no less than two adults". Woahhh, that's a whole lot of people!!!!!

Cantspel didn't think I was stereotyping, just pointing out that you usually only see dinosaurs on boy's tops. As nice as it would be, I've never seen a girl's top with a dinosaur on it.

this made me think of something my mum told me-

when i was a wee baby, about 1, my parents & i were abroad (maybe cyprus, i can't remember).

my mum was in the habit of dressing me in flouncy, frilly dresses, with matching over-nappy knickers. all the locals were adamant i was a boy- referred to me as he etc

parents couldn't understand it, especially as there was other girls there, one who was particularly boyishly- dressed (dungarees, hardly any hair) who they knew automatically were girls.

turned out, the other girls all had pierced ears, i didn't. in their culture, all girls had pierced ears, boys didn't. so they were adamant i was a boy

i guess what i'm trying to say is, people (rightly or wrongly) expect to see girls in pink. so they stupidly make assumptions, despite evidence to the contraire.
just ignore them, i bet he looks fab (and very much like a little boy).

Does it matter if people think he's a girl? Mine have both always been dressed as neutrally as possible, and I think we have that same T-shirt, from the Natural History Museum. They're older now, but I got much crosser with people who apologised for calling ds a girl, as if it were an insult, than with people who, not having seen his genitals, got it wrong.