Blue for Men Pink for Women

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Recommended: An assignment on gender socialization

In a famous TV show which is broadcasted in Korea, for some people questions were thrown by one particular scene. A man was walking with pink shopping bags then his male friend sarcastically mocked him with it saying do not being a girl. Some might see this scene with no problem but some may ask themselves why a man should be ridiculed for bringing pink bags? According to several studies conducted by corporations and sociologists, clearly the notion of blue color for boys and red color for girls exists. Although women and men like blue-type colors (blue, green, purple and etc), most women are more preferences to red-type colors (red, pink, yellow and etc). Some neuroscientists argue that this norm of gender colors is because of biological differences between sexes. Back in prehistoric days, people wanted clear skies for good weather. Therefore they started to have a tendency of preferring blue colors and that tendency had been passed through generations. For explaining why women like red-type colors, neuroscientists claim that women worked as 'gatherer' in ancient times so that they had to be sensitive to red which is the color of ripe fruits. Though this evolutionary explanation seems plausible, it misses the major parts for explaining the norm of gender colors, socialization. As one individual grows in a society, he or she are constantly socialized in many ways. The norm of gender differences in color preferences socially affects individuals through three of their life time stages of infancy, adolescence, and adult.
Once an individual born, they immediately started to learn to prefer certain color through their early childhood. The Parents usually the first reason of acquiring a certain norm about color preferences accordi...

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... the norm of gender color is still socialized in public places. For instance, in fitness center or gym have free uniforms for customers and usually they are divided into for women only and men only. Men's clothes are blue and women's clothes are pink or red in most cases. People do not need any instructions Blue for Men Pink for Women 5 to choose which clothes should they wear. They just pick certain colored shirts to wear because they are already socialized to choose certain colors for certain genders.
In conclusion, the norm of different colors for different genders is constantly socialized by various factors. To begin with, individuals are socialized to prefer certain colors in their time of infancy. Secondly, they are socialized through adolescences. Lastly in their adult time, they constantly learn the norm of gender colors mostly through socialization.

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