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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think green is unisex?

189 replies

Katiem1234 · 14/06/2019 11:30

I'm pregnant with my first baby, a girl. Green is my favourite colour and I've bought a fair few green baby clothes, I always thought green was a very unisex colour? However a friend has asked me why I've bought so many boy clothes and I presume jokingly said she takes it I was hoping for a boy... We've also got pinks, purples, yellows, creams etc.
Green is totally fine for a girl right? People aren't going to assume I just wanted a boy so dressed them in 'boys' clothes?

OP posts:
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LolaSmiles · 14/06/2019 11:32

All colours are unisex, although pink and blue are commonly associated with narrow stereotypes.
For some reason babies bring out the dated gender expectations in people where a baby girl must be in pink and purple dresses and cute girly princess outfits and boys must be in blue and green with trucks and dinosaurs.

Anyone who looks at a baby wearing green and thinks their parents must have wanted a boy needs to look in the mirror and reflect on their own prejudices and biases.

Do what makes you happy OP Grin

ComeBackBarack · 14/06/2019 11:35

In victorian times pink was for boys. Just a random fact....

nauseous5000 · 14/06/2019 11:35

YANBU, though whenever I dressed DD in green people thought she was a boy

RoyalChocolat · 14/06/2019 11:35

5 month old DD is currently wearing a green babygrow.
We chose not to know the sex before the birth so her entire wardrobe was unisex for the first couple of months. It included white, green, yellow, navy blue, red...
No one has asked me if I hoped for a boy.

HolesinTheSoles · 14/06/2019 11:36

She's being ridiculous. I hate the modern idea that if you have a girl they have to wear nothing but pink and have a bow permanently stuck to their bald head!

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 14/06/2019 11:37

DD was mistaken for a boy in a pink dress... Because she was bald.

shrunkenhead · 14/06/2019 11:39

We didn't know what we were having so painted the nursery pale green and green checked curtains. It's my favourite colour too. Dd turned out to not be a fan of pink anyway!

shrunkenhead · 14/06/2019 11:40

And it's better than yellow!Envy

BernardsarenotalwaysSaints · 14/06/2019 11:40

Dd1 wore a lot of mint green & yellow (both bright & pale, not a good look when they have jaundice Wink) when she was a baby, we didn’t find out when I was pregnant but we both agreed green & yellow would be lovely for either a boy or a girl. We wanted to avoid too much white/cream. If you like a colour, buy it. Baby won’t mind.

JonnyPocketRocket · 14/06/2019 11:45

YANBU. I'm a woman and probably 30% of my wardrobe is green because it's my favourite colour and works well with my skintone. We haven't yet found out our baby's sex but he/she will probably wear lots of green because that's what I'm drawn to when I'm shopping 🤷🏻‍♀️ Wouldnt cross my mind that it's a "boy colour".
I think people get hung up on the "pink for girls, blue for boys" with babies because they all look quite androgynous unless you apply some kind of stereotypical sex signifier like a hair bow. But I don't know why it matters if people can't immediately tell a baby's sex by looking at them, in the way they can with most older children / adults. They can surely just ask? Hmm

BertieBotts · 14/06/2019 11:45

In the baffling world of baby clothes, mint/apple/sea foam green is for girls while all bright or deep shades of green are for boys Confused

bluebluezoo · 14/06/2019 11:46

Girls cannot wear anything other than pink. Purple at a push.

All other colours and they will grow a willy/turn lesbian.

Pink only.

We have gone that far with gender stereotyping. I don’t even understand why it’s such a terrible thing if a casual onlooker doesn’t know your baby is a girl.

I rarely dressed mine in pink. I had a lot of very confused people try to correct me when i referred to her as “she”. I even had a school mum say “oh I thought you’d had a girl” about the third time we saw her- dd had a blue fleece blanket.

Supergrassyknoll · 14/06/2019 11:47

green is lovely, sod what your critical friend thinks

RuLu · 14/06/2019 11:47

Green is fine for a girl! I love green.....my mum knitted all sorts in 'baby green' wool when I was pregnant! In fact that's how I told her I was expecting, gave her a bag of wool & said get knitting Granny!!!

Micah · 14/06/2019 11:49

People aren't going to assume I just wanted a boy so dressed them in 'boys' clothes?

When dd was toddler she had a pixie crop. Grown adults would take the piss that i’d let my son wear his sisters clothes.0

AwdBovril · 14/06/2019 11:49

Your friend seems to have a rather narrow view of the world. Does she only wear pink then?

yorkshireborn1988 · 14/06/2019 11:50

My DD went out dressed in all pink, blanket and hat and got asked if she was a boy so I wouldn't worry.

mogtheexcellent · 14/06/2019 11:53

Direct her to let clothes be clothes on facebook/website/twitter. Also check them out yourself (and let toys be toys and let books be books).

Green is my favourite colour. Orange is my DDs. I had a red pram and was told off by a stranger in supermarket that is was a boys colour. People are stupid.

mintoreo · 14/06/2019 11:54

Green is definitely unisex!! I dont get the girls / boys can only wear certain colours. My baby boy has clothes of all colours including a few pink t shirts. Some people are weirdly obsessed with girls wearing mainly pink and boys wearing lots of blue. Just ignore them! Dont think I had any blue sleep suits etc they were all patterned or bright colours! Dress your baby in what you want!

IVEgottheDECAF · 14/06/2019 11:54

My dd (6) looks lovely in green Smile some people are just not very bright

Kpo58 · 14/06/2019 11:56

Green is unisex to me.

My DS even when wearing a pink flowery babygrow (hand me downs from his older sis) still wasn't mistaken as a girl! Grin

MorondelaFrontera · 14/06/2019 11:56

Depends on the green Grin

let's be honest, any colour can be a "girl colour", the only ones restricted are boys. My girls have never been confused with boys even when dressed in navy.

MyOpinionIsValid · 14/06/2019 12:00

Do you think your frined is confused between children and Leprechaun s ?

It's easily done

To think green is unisex?
Isthisafreename · 14/06/2019 12:00

My dd had no "girl" clothes, other than those she received as gifts, until she was 2. She wore ds1's hand me downs. She was still wearing loads of boy clothes until she was about 4 (everything from ds1 was wrecked from that age on). The only time anyone mistook her for a boy was when she was about 2 and was wearing a baby blue fluffy jumper (it was a very girly style) and a pair of jeans emblazoned with flowers and butterflies (again, very girly).

Ds2 wore loads of dd's hand me downs when he was a baby, with a lot of it having come from ds1 originally. His favourite pjs when he was 2 were a hand me down from her and they were very girly.

Buy what you want. Put her in whatever colour or style you want. If anyone judges, it says way more about them than her or you. All colours are unisex. There are some cultural associations between colour and gender but they are basically nonsense.

BertieBotts · 14/06/2019 12:17

No, see, I do find there is a range of each colour which is "allowed" to be assigned to girls/boys.

Bright red - both, but any hint of pink in the red and it's a girls' one. Any hint of orange, and it's boys' only. Faded red (sufficiently orange) and burgundy or maroon are for boys.

Orange is a boys' colour, and never appears on girls' clothing, unless it's peach.

Girls get pale or lemon yellow shades, occasionally a lightish bright yellow in summer, whereas boys get mustard and bright yellows, including neons. Pale yellow combined with white is a baby unisex signifier but once you get out of babygros it's for girls only.

Girls get pale, slightly blue-tinted greens. Boys get lime green, dark green, bright green, neon green, khaki green.

Contrary to popular opinion girls do get blue, but it's powder blue (usually with ruffles so you can tell it's for girls) or navy they are offered. Occasionally a stronger blue but only really as a detailing or edging. Boys get offered navy as well but also every other shade of blue except powder blue, which is far too girly.

Girls get most of the purples, but boys are allowed a strong purple, very occasionally. Likewise girls get every possible shade of pink, but boys are allowed the occasional salmon, ugly neon pink, or pale pink, as long as these are few and far between and the top (it's always a top) has some other kind of marker to signify that it's definitely meant for males.

Black, white and grey are neutrals. Brown is almost entirely for boys. Beige-and-white for babies is neutral, but otherwise beige is for boys only.

I used to think that girls' clothing had more colours than boys, but actually I think boys' clothing (in the toddler age specifically) is more colourful whereas girls have quite a restricted palette.

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