With a title like that, you might think I’ve come up with a little story for your little one. Actually, it’s just a little anecdote along the lines of “It’s 2017—give me a break with the outdated stereotypes.”
Let me tell you about it. Because of breastfeeding difficulties, I decided to pump for my son, who was born in February 2017. So we bought a bunch of little bottles in all kinds of colors (really cute, made of glass with silicone sleeves).
When I say “all colors,” I really mean all colors: blue, green, yellow, orange, lilac, and pink. That is, every color available at the store when we visited.
Well, the little pink bottle caused quite a stir.
My mom teased my son several times when he had it in his mouth, telling him he was a little girl with his pink bottle. I know she didn’t mean any harm, but it still made me roll my eyes.
Then, one day when my father-in-law came over to watch the little one while we ran some errands, I gave him the following instructions: “He’s just been changed; give him the pink bottle, then the yellow one if he’s still hungry. But the pink one should be enough.”
I left with my partner, still a little anxious about leaving my baby behind, even though I knew he was in good hands (well, the emotional bond with my son isn’t severed yet!). When I got back, I saw that the yellow bottle was empty and the pink one was untouched.
I point out to him that I’d told him to give him the pink one first, then the yellow one. He replies, “It’s no big deal.” ” I tell him that it does matter, since they were pumped at different times, the milk in the pink bottle will go bad before the milk in the yellow one, and since I’m not a milk cow (sorry, little cows), I don’t really like throwing away my milk, which I work so hard to produce and pump. I’m sure he did it on purpose.
It reminds me of former managers at my job who regularly wore pink shirts, saying that “only real men can wear pink.” I’m not quite sure what they meant by “real men,” but I like the fact that they weren’t fazed by the snide remarks from other coworkers.
In my opinion, a color isn’t gendered and shouldn’t be. If you think a man’s masculinity is compromised because he wears pink, know this: a color doesn’t have the magical power to alter gender—or even sexual orientation (if what you mean is that it makes him seem gay). It’s just a color, period.
And a four-month-old boy has absolutely no idea what gender you’re assigning to his clothes, his toys, or his bottle. He’s a baby. He couldn’t care less. And he’s absolutely right!