Coloring has always been an important skill for young children. The color crayons children chose to use have a lot more meaning than what people may think. Girls use warmer colors when coloring pictures, but they don’t differentiate between colors as much as boys do. An article based on colors of gender entitled, “The Color of Children’s Gender Stereotypes”, by Rachel Karniol stated:
Gender-differentiated color preferences are also evident in children’s coloring activities. There are two general patterns. First, although the age of gender-differentiated color use varies across studies, American, British and Japanese boys between the ages of 5–10 generally use significantly fewer colors in their free drawings than girls, and boys often opt to draw in black and white. Second, girls use a greater variety of colors, more warm colors, and especially more pinks and purples than boys. (p.2)
It was found that their use of colors resulted from the provisions that were given to them by their parents and teachers. Stereotypes are constantly enforced just by the materials that they are given to use. Research has also shown that girls are more drawn to vibrant colors than boys are also.
Overall, by looking at different research we can see that gender stereotypes can be universal in some aspects. The research that I read discussed how they found that coloring affected boys and girls in not only America but Britain, Japan and Israel. Colors are universal and everyone learns what to associate with them through their culture.
Karniol, R. (2011). The Color of Children's Gender Stereotypes.Sex Roles. 65,119-132.
DOI: 10.1007/s11199-011-9989-1
DOI: 10.1007/s11199-011-9989-1
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| (NOTICE: the girl is dressed in pink, the boy in blue and neutral yellow. The blue pencils near the boys, the purple in front of the girl) |
I never thought of this before! I spent my summer babysitting an eight year old boy and he loved to color.. with pen. I would always encourage him to use some colors, some yellows or oranges or blues, but he was content with white paper and a black pen. Although I'm 20, I still enjoy coloring every now and then and I always stray towards the more warm colors, like you mentioned girls do. Something as simple as coloring a picture can show how gendered our culture really is. Good points made!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting topic! I work with kids in the daycare at my church all summer, and I never thought to really notice the difference between how they colored. Needless to say, next time I go home I'll be sure to pay attention, out of curiosity. I also like how your article is cross-cultural and shows that this difference exists around the world. I'm looking forward to hear more about this kind of research now!
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