To think green is unisex?

[Katiem1234]

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?

• We don't colour code cats and dogs

Yeah. It’s starting. Pink collars for girls and leather studs for boys. *

Actually, as a dog owner I find it somewhat useful to be able to tell the sex of another dog from a distance without examining its undercarriage. Because the dogs know each other's sexes and quite often react differently.

Babies OTOH - surely the only time their sex is relevant if you're changing their nappy , and if you need the baby colour coding to tell you've got problems.

It really highlights gender stereotypes and how expectations of behaviour are completely different. And how early it starts...

Really?
I have put my kids in hand-me-downs from their siblings, I have never noticed any difference whatsoever on the way people would act.
What a strange comment.

Except it’s endemic in society and not colour coding your baby means you’re likely to have the same bloody conversations with everyone you meet.

I know. I think colour coding pink/blue when they are really little is kind of reasonable for ease (if it didn't encourage all the associated nonsense), but it's not that hard to correct assumptions (I did).

Still I maintain that anyone who reaches adulthood and is so slavishly bound to 'it's what people do' that they correct someone else for not following the pattern, is not worth any head space.

I have put my kids in hand-me-downs from their siblings, I have never noticed any difference whatsoever on the way people would act.
What a strange comment

Why strange? It is my experience. If yours is different it doesn’t make mine strange or any less valid.

I have a girl with short hair. Even up until about age 11 if she went to the park in jeans and a hoody people would comment on how boys were so physical. They’d commiserate that i must spend so much time in the park to burn off energy, at least their girls would sit and do colouring.

Take her in a dress and I’d have people ask if I knew she was at the top of the climbing frame, aren’t we lucky that girls aren’t as adventurous as boys, less time in a&e! Haha.

People would pull their children aside so the “little boy” could get to the top of the frame, but tell their boys to “be careful of the little girl”.

Dd notices too now she’s older. She knows if she wears “boy clothes” she’ll be included in the active games, and if they think she’s a girl she’ll be told she can’t do this or climb that, or she’ll have boys challenge her to physical competition.

Someone upthread has said this and it's made me realise I agree- pink is just not a very nice colour, in my opinion!

origamiunicorn
Not sure why my comment is funny, some people will think a baby in green is a boy.
My DD has short hair and wears ‘boy’ colours and people are always referring to her as my son. It matters to me not one bit but some people get really upset when people mistake their DD for a boy and vv.

www.letclothesbeclothes.co.uk/

www.lettoysbetoys.org.uk/

The woman serving me when I bought blue baby dungarees in next said 'aaaw are you having a boy?'

I told her no, we didn't know what we were having yet, and she looked at me like and said 'but what if it's a girl??'.

She was wearing an entirely blue outfit herself... I wish I'd pointed this out.

People would pull their children aside so the “little boy” could get to the top of the frame, but tell their boys to “be careful of the little girl”

This exact thing happened to me, have posted about it before on MN. A 'little boy' playmate became a delicate princess who has to be treated gently, when they figured out my 'son' was actually a daughter. And then you have people telling you how girls are not so adventurous. Well guess why?

All colours are unisex. Your friend needs to be dragged into the 21st century.

I HATE the idea that there are boys clothes and girls clothes. Gender pigeon joking from the moment they are born is not helpful for anyone.

People would pull their children aside so the “little boy” could get to the top of the frame, but tell their boys to “be careful of the little girl”

I have seen that, but it was about AGE, not gender! So if it was a little girl, they do call her a little girl - but when it's a boy, they call it a little boy.

I honestly think some people are choosing to see things a certain way.

If my kids (boy or girl) are in a group, I also tell them to be careful of the lone boy or girl.

So yes, someone will translate it a different way.

Nothing wrong in having boys and girls clothes, we are all free to chose. I don't go shopping in men's shops, and DH doesn't shop in women's stores. Why should we do different for my kids? DH and I still compete in the same sports, that's where we met! Too much is read into the clothes

it was about AGE, not gender!

So why would the same mother encourage their son to play with my 'son' and let him have a go on the climbing frame, but tell him to be careful and delicate with my daughter? She didn't age over those 2 seconds when the mum figured out it was a girl.

Buy what you want. Pink and blue is so boring. I shop on both sections for my girl as boys section is brighter and boys stuff is cut more comfortably for babies.

KatharinaRosalie
maybe that one was about gender!
And the way some women react, I can understand why some mothers start to teach their sons to treat girls with the upmost caution!
You just have to read some threads to see that some posters think a perfectly innocent 5 year old is a future rapist because he shows his underwear or push a girl on the playground.

But I also think that in many cases, people read what they want from an innocent comment.

You know what will happen if you dress her in green though right? She will totally grow a willy

But seriously a girl in green is fine, a girl in blue is fine, a girl in any colour is fine :)

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

I have in my head an image of one of the Mitchell Brothers (Eastenders) in a dress with a bow on their head. Sorry!!

Another chipping in with all colours are unisex. Baby boy mum here and he wears any colour that fits (and is easy to clean) he has some pink thing's, though less than other colours because they usually have frills attached (who gives babies lace and frills as everyday wear???!)

YANBU - green is fine for girls or boys.

WHY on earth would you put a boy in a dress?

I kind of understand why posters are against them, because they are more restrictive than trousers - even if it's debatable, my girls love dresses and it has never stopped them to do anything with their brothers
anyway, but if you think it's a garment of oppression, why would you put a boy in them?

My dd has a green romper in gingham with roses on it. 3 people called her a boy when she wore it one day. Nothing to do with the colour, people clearly dont look at it!

So what if people think your baby is a boy anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️ just correct them and if they query what she is wearing tell them not to be so old fashioned and ridiculous.

Green is the BEST colour in my humble opinion btw!

In case someone is wondering if clothes and assumed genders make a difference, there's this BBC clip you might want to see:

I don't go shopping in men's shops, and DH doesn't shop in women's stores. Why should we do different for my kids?

Small children are, pants apart, similar shape and size range. Men and women aren't. And adults have developed their own taste and character. Small children haven't, but if there's any tendency to dress little girls in less practical clothes and shoes than boys (and there observably is) then this will lead to imposed differences in their developed competencies.

I have seen that, but it was about AGE, not gender! So if it was a little girl, they do call her a little girl - but when it's a boy, they call it a little boy

Same child. Different days perhaps, so maybe a couple of weeks or months age difference. But yeah, definitely about age, not gender.

Slightly o/t, but i received an email to pay our holiday balance last week. Bear in mind i have researched, booked, and paid for everything in my name. Guess who the lead passenger has been changed to? Yep, dh. Google tells me it’s happened to others, the lead passenger defaults to the adult male in the party.

Another anecdote- when dh and I were dating, we took it in turns to pay. Every single time my card was returned to dh, with a surprised apology when they realised it was mine. Because I am “Dr”. I had an argument with easyjet once because they assumed I was male, so when I turned up it caused them immense difficulties- apparently they need to know sex as it affects the weight distribution of the plane. .

You can turn a blind eye all you want, or insist it’s age, or natural, whatever. You’re in denial, and it does our children no favours.

I don't go shopping in men's shops, and DH doesn't shop in women's stores. Why should we do different for my kids?

I shop in mens stores. I have just realised i must be wearing a “mens” fleece as i went to zip it up and realised it zips the “wrong” way.

I also have mens running trainers. No difference to womens, except I have to size down half a size.

I don’t generally shop in mens stores as I have a female body shape- hips and boobs which aren’t accommodated in the cut of mens. Presumably that is also why most other adults stick to their own sex clothes.

Prepubescent children have the same body shape. There is no physical reason why they can’t wear boys and/or girls clothes up until puberty.

I have a female dog who is a tearaway. I have put her in a pink collar in the hope that she will rise to people's expectations that she will be calm and obedient...

Yes, Green is fine for all babies.

Your friend belongs to the large proportion of people who believe in strong sexual stereotyping.