I'm just gonna stop the people who are gonna complain about gender stereotypes right here. There's a reason why blue is associated with boys and pinks and reds are associated with girls. It could easily be the son's favourite colour
It would be more accurate to say there is an arbitrary reason. Pink and blue as infant clothing started off as gender neutral in the 19th century. Right before world war 1 we see records of department stores advertising “gendered colors” as a way to increase sales- and originally, pink being for boys as it is in the red family and more “decisive” or “masculine” and blue, the more subdued color, for girls. It wasn’t until the 1940’s that blue became “for boys” and pink “for girls,” and this was again- largely driven by retailers and advertising. So the “reason” why we have gendered colors and the “reason” blue is male and pink is female- is because in the age of our parents or grand parents- or great etc if you are rather young- stores decided it was. But it could have been the other way. The outcome is arbitrary.
There’s no practical or cognitive reasoning that suggests that in absence of environment there is a natural precedence for either color by gender. Infants in general are attracted to primary colors like red and blue, and some studies do show preference by gender in infants- but far more show no definitive preference, so the current science says it’s completely arbitrary and based on the parents preferences- and environment- not human nature or any practical reason.
As a matter of fact- into the late 1800’s children of both sexes in America and other countries commonly wore dresses through their early lives- usually until about 6 years old. You can find a picture of US President FDR wearing his little dress with long hair and cute little leather pumps. This was normal in his day. It made sense to put babies and children in dresses as changing diapers is easier and potty accidents less problematic to clean. The concept that babies needed a gender identity is a recently modern invention, as is the idea that the “wrong” gendered colors or clothing were harmful- and likely had a cause/effect relationship with our social predisposition to gender- which is again- arbitrary but still as you say- a reason. Imagine living in an alternate world where not wearing a clown nose would make you an outcast- it would be senseless, but not wanting to be a social outcast even for arbitrary reasons IS a reason.
As for this guy- I don’t know him. I don’t know his kid. Any argument from ignorance on the subject becomes circular. Did he paint the Jeep for his child’s preference or did he paint it for his own bias from a lifetime of associating pink with girls- a lesson he now passes on? If it is his sons favorite color- is it his sons favorite color because his son likes it best intuitively, or because his son has picked up social cues and been conditioned to like it since he was an infant? So even if it is the sons favorite color- we can’t rule out that psychologically speaking- it wasn’t chosen for him or presented to him as his favorite of a list of “acceptable choices.”
There are biases in many cultures to colors being associated with gender, historically we can see certain colors being associated with wealth, only allowed for royalty, or being seen as appropriate for one sex or another- but largely the idea of reserving colors for genders of young children and infants is a modern invention without any substantive reasoning. It’s a marketing gimmick that we made part of our culture, it’s a recent development that most seem to treat as a gospel tradition predating time memorial. But to your point we don’t know the guys life story and even a psychologist would be acting unprofessionally to offer a remote diagnosis of the situation- so the Jeep is now blue, for whatever reason. It’s just important to remember that having a reason isn’t the same as having a good reason.
I don't know all the reason kids used to wear dresses but I do know the practice was for general cleanliness. If they were wearing a dress they could just lift it up and go to the bathroom wherever they were. Note that this tradition was in practice long before indoor plumbing and people just used to urinate wherever they were. Privies were generally used for defecation.
Side note, I'm male and I used to like light yellow as a kid with silver then blue as my next favourites. I hated red, pink, and green-brown.
Side note, I'm male and I used to like light yellow as a kid with silver then blue as my next favourites. I hated red, pink, and green-brown.