To think putting a baby boy in pink is a little odd?

[Reachout]

Hi, this post isn't to point fingers, I just genuinely want to know if I'm the only one who thinks like this.

A friend of mine is putting her newborn baby boy in his sisters old sleepsuites etc and says it's just newborn clothing, why does it matter.
I'm sorry but I wouldn't even think of putting a boy in girls things, and I don't just mean 'pink', I mean properly girly.

AIBU? I can't see why you'd do it, and she isn't strapped for cash by any stretch of the imagination. It just doesn't sit right with me.

Yay 1970s baby clothes!

My dh had a pink coat from his sister in late 70s. There is a very cute photo of him in it so they must have existed.

I didn't think people like the OP actually existed. Why would it matter to a baby what colour/design they are dressed in?!

I regularly buy my two girls clothes from the boys section.
My bug bear is the fashion industry think girls only want pink frilly shit.
My oldest loves marvel and Lego, dragons but you never get anything for girls .
Why is dressing boys in pink bad?

Society wether we like it or not

But we are that society, society isn't a 'thing' that has its own mind, and collectively we choose the prevailing norms and values and can choose to reject those that put individuals in boxes who are then judged when they don't conform in ways that are harmless. We can become more embracing.

The pink/blue thing is relatively new but it's clear from this thread that some people even on MN feel uncomfortable about an act that intrinsically actually harms no one, although the attitudes from those who are uncomfortable can harm by way of societal behaviour.

I can see no logical reason why boys should not wear pink and I'm pretty sure the baby doesn't care.

In practice though some people will see it as odd.

Can someone please point me to where the OP said his 'willy will fall off?' Or where he will 'turn gay?'

Because she didn't.

And yet you've all gone on calling her homophobic and worse.

Nest of vipers indeed.

I would assume this is a troll post.

YANBU

Sorry I meant YABVU!

Really who cares? Why are you so keen on gender stereotyping?

Yes some will and do see it as odd and its that reaction that we challenge. The people who find it odd weren't born finding it odd, they're reaction is a product of society. It can change once they see that there is no actual harm being done to anyone. And that's what we want isn't it. A society where we don't prevent people from harmless acts just because it makes people feel discomfort.

*their

The "genderisation" of clothes is a recent and fairly mad phenomemon.

What does it matter to anyone what colour of sleepsuit a baby wears (for approximately 49 minutes on a really bad day)? It's an item of clothing.

This "disposable society" where you do not use perfectly good items (that babies have a habit of growing out of the instant your back is turned) because they are the "wrong colour". It is only very recently that newborn baby boys were NOT dressed in exactly the same way as newborn baby girls, which was in a vest, nappy and a dress. The most overt sign of any gender specific clothing was for slightly older babies, where bonnets for a boy had a peak. Yup, that was way back in the 50s and 60s - so well within living memory for a huge sector of the populace.

I am a year older than my cousin. He spent a good four or five years wearing my old clothes - jumpers, cardigans, anoraks, trousers, PJs, dressing gowns etc. Because they were mainly unisex. A red jumper for a small child is just a red jumper.

Another set of cousins had a rather nice kilt, that did sterling service for all five of them, plus my sister and I. In total, it was worn by three boys and four girls.

Is it just sleepsuits or does she put him in hand me down dresses too?

Haven't rtft yet but OP YABU

I'm due a boy in the next few weeks and he will be wearing plenty of dds old pink sleepsuits. He will also be in a pink carseat, which we got because we like bright pink. I find most "boys" clothes so dull and boring that I've bought him a fair few sleepsuits that I think are aimed at girls but are just bright and funky too

This must be a joke.
I dress in boyish clothes all the time. My daughter rarely wears pink. Only because it isn't my taste, no actual aversion to it.
Pink isn't that girly- look at all the city boys in their pink shirts.

Clothes have always been genderized - it's the genderization of baby clothes that's so recent.

I have an antique china faced doll that must be about 150 years old. (I think it was over a 100 when I was given it aged 8). The hair on it is real hair - ringlets that "belonged" to my great great uncle but in the fashion of the time, worn long, with "dresses" while he was a toddler.

I don't think in the Victorian era you could tell the difference between under 5 boys and under 5 girls. Certainly they look pretty androgynous in those formal posed family group photographs.

Tell me again why we fought for women's suffrage and equal rights and non-discrimination if some people think it's "odd" if a baby wears "girl's" clothing?

There's obviously still some work to be done as it seems that we've gone backwards since the 60s and 70s

Ds had a nightie handed down from dd's friend! It was quite practical.

I hate waste but there can be a bit of balance.
I am having a different sex this time around. I will probably use the very gender specific grows for bedtime And maybe round the house or for spares in my bag.
I wouldn't use them out and about, visiting friends etc.

I'm with you OP. I think boys should be dressed in blue and girls in pink.
I don't want to upset anyone but if I was blessed with a son and put him in a frilly dress I would expect some looks

Really?
All boys should always be dressed in blue all of the time and all girls should always be dressed in pink all if the time?
Why?
Not all boys suit blue and not all girls suit pink.
Some boys suit pink and some girls suit blue.
Pink and blue are colours. They signify nothing.
Do you think that only people in morning should wear black and that those who are in mourning must wera black?
Or do you permit a little individuality?

If boys "should" be dressed in blue and girls "shoud" be dressed in pink, at what age are they permitted to try not only the forbidden colour, but any other colours?

A friends (German) mother used to insist that babies could only be dressed in white until they could sit up. That seems quite reasonable after reading that boys "should" wear blue.

I admire your honesty OP. You are quite rightly entitled to have your own opinion, as are others on the thread.

However, when statements like Society whether we like it or not does determine what is masculine/feminine to wear. come up, I feel obliged to ask why. Why does society determine these things. Society is the public. So if we don't challenge why, we will continue to face this problem of implying that one gender can do things/wear things that another can not. Again, I question why this is important.

Two people of the same gender can marry each other but we still seem to have an issue about what they're wearing?

What I meant lavender was I think boys should be dressed in boys clothes and girls in girl clothes, rather than pink or blue.

Re the German "wear white" idea, I just remembered that my mum bought me a on old-fashioned white "dress" for ds for when he was a newborn. It may even have had embroidered flowers on it - it was from Boden so probably wasn't cheap.

I was in hospital for 5 days as ds had jaundice (and again for another 5 days when he was 2 weeks old as I got a nasty infection and was on IV antibiotics ) and this "dress" was probably one of the most useful outfits I had as it was easy to change nappies with none of the faff of getting little legs into/out of little sleep suits

So girls should only wear skirts and dresses then, lighthouse?

because those are 'girls clothes'.

Balls to that.