r/pointlesslygendered • u/LavenderTwist-4 • 29d ago
POINTFULLY GENDERED Is it gay to prefer pastels? [gendered]
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u/Envy_The_King 29d ago
As an artist...this is dumb
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u/Kauuori 29d ago
Fr wth they mean by density lol
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u/sohereiamacrazyalien 28d ago
concentration of pigments I would think. I am too "dense" to understand maybe!
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u/Kurenai_Kamille 24d ago
The one who made this thing is dense.
That's all I've got, sorry...
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u/sohereiamacrazyalien 28d ago
as an artist too it is, as non idiot it is super dumb!
it's not only pink and blue they are branching out! watch out!!!
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u/bliip666 28d ago
As someone with a lot of contrast, couldn't agree more!
Pastels just make me look ill.
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u/Upset-Elderberry3723 29d ago
Indeed. Although, some research does exist indicating that women se a wider range of colour shades than men normally do due to cone density in the eyes.
As a trans woman, I've always been able to see really tiny differences in shades that others around me haven't.
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u/Shadowgirl_skye 29d ago
Sorry I really gotta doubt the validity of this research. We’re getting far too close to gender medacimism with these kind of claims.
Just looking at the abstract of the top google search result reveals it doesn’t seem to account for sociological differences.
Looking at some other studies suggests differences only in some colour ranges.
The reality is this is far to complex to be making these types of claims
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u/International-Cat123 28d ago
The fact that socialization could be factor in why it occurs doesn’t change the fact that research shows it does.
A study had people look at photographs of people. Each photograph had a number of names with it, including the subject’s actual name. When participants tried to pick the correct names of children, the results tended to be the same as someone picking at random. When participants tried to pick the correct names of adults, there was a noticeable increase in accuracy, enough to suggest that gene expression can be affected by how someone thinks they should look. With that in mind, it is possible for socialization to cause someone’s eyes to develop denser cones. However, it’s also possible, and more likely given the consistency with which women have dense cones, that something about the different hormone levels causes it.
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u/Shadowgirl_skye 28d ago
I didn't say biology wasn't a factor. I said I was sceptical of it being the only major contributing factor. The comment under me made clear the nuances of this topic.
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u/Upset-Elderberry3723 29d ago
You can make claims based upon research. That's how it works.
There indeed probably is a sociological difference, but that doesn't make it any less real. Biological development often works in tandem with sociological gendering. It might be the case that women actually retain a better capacity for colour differentiation due to a societal need to do so. When you grow up as a girl, with an emphasis on beauty, colour differentiation becomes a more central task.
This would also fit with some evolutionary psychological theories that state males are biologically inclined to be more rash and hardline in their perception of all things due to a need to make critical, split-second decisions on safety.
It would also be congruent with other findings about the senses and nervous system in women, such as them retaining more of their cerebral cortex density post-puberty than men do (trans women retain more, as well).
In reality though, different neural presentations occur throughout both sexes. There are some that are found primarily in one sex, though, such as the neural presentations that seems to correlate with possessing ASD (mostly evidenced in males).
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u/Shadowgirl_skye 29d ago
Yes, this is the more complex and nuanced nature I was talking about. I was just sceptical of the idea that it’s due to cone density and that this also applies to all trans women.
I’m trans too, but everything gets complicated when it comes to the brain. Sex is a social construct(a useful one, but still a social construct) just like gender, so it’s not all clear cut on “this neurobiological thing happens in cis women so therefore it must happen in trans women)
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u/nooit_gedacht 29d ago
Have you ever read Brain-Storm by Rebecca Jordan-Young? I've been meaning to since my prof recommended it (only read a few chapters so far). It's an investigation of the research behind what she calls "brain organisation theory" and where it fails / succeeds. Really interesting to see how the sociological constructs of sex and gender are sometimes not understood by scientists who take it as a given, which then influences their research. It's made me very skeptical of any research that claims to find general sex based differences in human brains. Not to say that it's impossible for such differences to exist but it seems more likely to me that individuals vary far too much amongst themselves to neatly fit into any category
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u/International-Cat123 28d ago
Gender is a social construct. Sex is not. A lack of properly studying and taking into account the differences between female and male biology has resulted a lot of preventable injuries due to safety measures being made for female-shaped males instead of females and illnesses being written off as “menstrual issues.”
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u/Shadowgirl_skye 28d ago
Sex is a social construct in the same way that classification of species is a social construct. It is a loose collection of traits grouped in boxes we colloquially refer to as male or female. It is a very useful social construct, yes. It is extremely important to be able to classify these traits effectively in order to ensure the best treatment. But in the end, it is a trait only we as a society prescribe to individuals, not a fundamental aspect of the universe.
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u/demon_fae 28d ago
This exactly. We group a lot of shit into the “female sex” and “male sex” boxes that are either entirely environmental and thus extremely mutable and individual or just outright false. For a prime example of both, see the ways pain is handled in male-socialized/male-presenting patients vs female-socialized/female-presenting patients.
You get the social aspect that teaches each gender that they should ignore pain under different circumstances, and then supposedly evidence-based but often subconsciously cherry-picked medical praxis about pain tolerance that collapses utterly as soon as you try to find any physiological explanation. Or apply the tiniest shred of empathy without layering it in sexism (the big one here is assuming that labor pain can be compared one-to-one to other pain. In reality, the hormones associated with labor have major effects on how the pain is experienced and later recalled, making the comparison even less useful than other pain comparisons, which are pretty useless to begin with.)
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u/Lusamine_35 28d ago
i think this is a misconception, and it's origin would be due to having two X chromosomes, which increases the chance of tetrachromacy. Almost everyone has 3 cones. An extremely small number of people with XX chromosomes have 4, but on average there's no difference
Tiny colour differences usually come from undertones or art training or simply caring more lol
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u/SlippingStar 28d ago
it’s actually cultural, and people raised to be women in the USA are cultured to pay closer attention to color.
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u/sidewalksInGroupVII 27d ago
As a former frontend engineer... this is dumb. Only one is WCAG compliant.
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u/praysolace 29d ago
Help, the color wheel says I’m intersex, what do I do
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u/HappyLittleBreadFish 29d ago
Be colorblind
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u/ToothZealousideal297 29d ago
But colorblindness is much more prevalent in males! It just adds another dimension to the issue!
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u/HappyLittleBreadFish 29d ago
Well you see. Non-binary people see in black and white colorblind. They can't perceive color, unlike men who are red-green colorblind.
I have a legit degree in this, see?
(Shows degree made with crayons)
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28d ago
I suppose we can make an exception and allow you to chose a side. You can’t be both tho, you have to fit into a box
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u/RejectedByBoimler 29d ago
OOP probably thought Lego was for boys until the company came out with pastel colors.
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u/dinodare 28d ago
Legos actually do have a history of being deliberately gendered in pretty problematic ways.
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u/mickeyhellhound 29d ago
Guess I'm a man now.
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u/0RedNomad0 29d ago edited 29d ago
So, does it mean that we're gonna grow a dick at some point? Or should it already have happened 🤔
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u/No_Training6751 29d ago edited 28d ago
I’m waiting for the privilege and undeserved confidence.
Edit: typo
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u/meerfrau85 29d ago
Easter is for the girls and the gays, I guess
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u/Astrophysics666 29d ago
Does Easter have pastel colours?
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u/meerfrau85 29d ago
Yes. At least in the US that's the whole aesthetic for the holiday, is pastels and I hate it.
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u/Astrophysics666 29d ago
Interesting, I'm from the UK and i don't think we have any colour scheme associated with it. But there is definitely more rich colours ie Easter eggs (which are chocolate in the UK not the painted eggs I've seen in American movies)
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u/ShokaLGBT 29d ago
Pastel colors we go winning the gay and the girls vs the straight dudes with their brightness
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u/jasperdarkk 28d ago
Then is Christmas only for dudes because the reds and greens are much darker?
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u/GarbanzoBenne 29d ago
If you go by our clothing color choices, men apparently prefer dark blue, gray, and black. Actual bright colors are hard to find.
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u/No-Somewhere-1336 29d ago
yeah its so annoying that all the clothes in the mans clothing sections look dead
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u/SpookyVoidCat 29d ago
Came here to say the same thing. It is so so depressing to walk past the women’s department full of colour and life, just to end up in a sea of navy blue and camo green. Have fun hunting down the two or three individual items that have any actual colour or interest to them, and don’t expect them to be in your size!
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u/Vik-Holly-25 29d ago
And I just wanted a simple grey t-shirt. Bought it in the men's section, for they had only pastel t-shirts for women. My skin color is already pale, with pastel colors I look like a corpse.
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u/ShokaLGBT 29d ago
yep wearing color is so gay they’ll say
What you wear PURPLE
are you gaaaaayyyyyy
yes now leave colorphobic
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u/Sominaria 28d ago
Don't forget the camo green and khaki! I'm a woman and I like to shop in the men's section some times because I like muted colours and loose fitting clothes.
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u/ThePurpleGuardian 29d ago
No, but apparently it's trans to.
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u/Remarkable_Coast_214 29d ago
yeah lol, every time i see one of these bizarre men/women things and someone says "is it gay to [women thing]" i just think... gay and women aren't the same thing at all.
maybe i'm overthinking it but idgaf if i am
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u/SeigneurLimerence 29d ago
Colors aren’t inherently gendered, this is stupid. They are colors. You can use some amount of psychology in design with colors, but even that can change depending on the culture of the viewer. Such rigid lines of thought are what lead to stagnation in art and design. It’s frustrating. Enjoy whatever the hell you want to enjoy.
Fucking genderlocking colors, my ass-
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u/No_Speed_582 26d ago
That's what I was thinking too! Like "dang are they really applying gender differences to fucking color saturation?" Anyone can like whatever they want and there isn't an inherent need for justification!
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u/ThrowAway233223 29d ago
Ironically, you pointlessly gendered being gay. Being gay doesn't automatically mean you are feminine.
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u/Invisible_Target 29d ago
It bothers me way more than it should that they used “dense” instead of “vibrant” or “bold” or something. Idk the word “dense” just feels so out of place to me for some reason lol
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u/Bombyx-Memento 28d ago
"Dense colors" is how I know this was made by someone who doesn't do art. "Vibrant" "saturated" "vivid" literally any of those terms would have worked. But no.
On top of it being just bullshit.
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u/Alana_Piranha 28d ago
"A man should never wear pastel unless he's a black guy on Easter". -Jack Donaghy
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u/YuyuTheRedBriar 28d ago
Funnily enough this is what pissed me off about clothes but in reverse, the popping exciting colours are all fem clothing.
Red becomes burgundy for men... I like red damn it, let me have my big baggy clothes in red!!!
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u/GuduleTheThird 28d ago
"Men have baby brain, if it's not bright, bold and make big sound they don't want it"
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u/geekybadger 28d ago
'Dense' is the weirdest way I've seen saturated colors described. I do understand what they mean and I potentially would grab the word dense to describe intense colors if i was tired and struggling to remember words, so I can understand someone who doesn't have a wide vocabulary (as I assume is the case with the person who made this, cos the sorts of people who believe this usually are quite narrow minded) using it too, but it still feels bizarre.
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u/DidntWantSleepAnyway 29d ago
If I prefer the women’s side blue but the men’s side for all the colors…this is definitely affirming me as a nonbinary person who seems feminine (based on body and voice) but is actually more masc-leaning.
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u/Bloody-Raven091 29d ago
I'm a trans man that likes both dense and pastel colours, so it's stupid for narrow-minded cis people to pointlessly gender shades and tints of colours.
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u/o0SinnQueen0o 29d ago
I do prefer the left side but gendering the saturation of colours is the dumbest sht I've seen in my whole artist life. Even dumber than the "pink is for girls and blue is for boys" thing.
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u/CanadianODST2 29d ago
that's not what that says at all
groups often will have things they prefer. That's just a thing. That also doesn't mean that people can't sit outside of that preference.
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u/Passive_Lesbian 29d ago
Women men prefer prefer soft dense colours colours
Thats how i read this, i was very confused for a moment
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u/narutoplayslovenikki 28d ago
men so sensitive they couldnt even bring themselves to say "bright colors" it had to be "DENSE" bc thats manly.
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u/Gongoozler04 28d ago
Welp, guess I’m a nonbinary now according to that picture because I love both “soft” and “dense” colors.
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u/sleepyAnarchistSlut 28d ago
Tbh a lot of men just avoid all colors to be the most gender so this really doesn't make sense.
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u/Fair_View_4167 28d ago
the whole blue is for boys and pink is for girl stuff is dumb colurs are colours they aren't genders, people can use whatever colour they want
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u/BattledogCross 28d ago
Me a trans masc person "this is stupid, clearly pointless and nobody should gender colours I tottaly love brighter colours and i.... Wait... Nvm this is fantastic no notes."
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u/I_Drink_Water_n_Cats 29d ago
is it gay to like the unsaturated version of a “masculine” color ⁉️⁉️⁉️
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u/CitronMamon 29d ago
We will do a literal study showing a consistent difference in preference and it will still end up in r/pointlesslygendered
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u/lizzyote 29d ago
What would be the point of noting the preferences between genders?
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u/PhysicalAd1170 29d ago
In our current world, probably mostly used for marketing.
Beyond that just interesting cool stuff that could lead to better understandings of how people see the world or how they're socialized to if it turns out to not be inherent. There's not a purpose in ignoring preferences that can be studied snd replicated just cuz they're based on gender.
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u/TesseractToo 29d ago
Username.... um does it check out? No idea but worthy of mention :D
I like "dense colours" so I must be a manlady
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u/Tall-Enthusiasm-6421 29d ago
Me wearing pastel pink and deep purple... Well I am transitioning, I suppose.
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u/Internal-Syrup-5064 29d ago
I've never once even considered considering this issue. On an unrelated note, I'm straight.
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u/Shoshawi 29d ago
Palm Beach called and said only poor people don’t like pastels 😂 Can’t say I agree but the dividing line in PBC for pastels is surely not gendered.
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u/cptcougarpants 29d ago
To play devils advocate, Im colorblind, and men are statistically more likely to be colorblind, and I prefer the denser colors because they're more visually distinct from eachother. Maybe thats the bes angle this can have?
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u/UnagioLucio 29d ago
And here I thought it was gay to have sex with other men... Shows what I know!
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u/MissMarchpane 29d ago
I prefer jewel tones; what does that make me? Besides a big goth, which I already knew.
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u/Pandoratastic 29d ago
It's not a preference. It's a societal command for what you're allowed to like and still be considered "normal".
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u/International-Cat123 29d ago
Society decided that pastels are baby colors, and society likes to infantilize women
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u/iamth3rob0t 29d ago
I like how people use how society pushes faux differences like this as if it's fact.
Patriarchal Society: gentle pastel colours are gay Men: oh ok... Guess I'll like the strong colours Patriarchal Society: wow men love strong bold colours.
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u/OVERKILL0001 29d ago
I prefer soft of some colours colors and dense of other what does that make me
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u/BaroquePseudopath 29d ago
This is hilariously and ludicrously incorrect. Most women I know aren’t afraid to wear bright colours, most men I know wouldn’t be seen dead in anything other than grey or black.
Also: I’m a colourblind person, I don’t see as much red as most people. Sometimes when I had to colour code things at university (because that’s life) I use very distinct bright colours so I could tell them apart easier, and I always got marked down for using distracting colours in professional reports, to the point where I started putting a disclaimer at the end. Turns out the male lecturers weren’t listening when I told them I had to use bright colours because muted shades of the same colour is “correct” and there’s nothing to be done about it, and the female lecturers actually bothered to listen and told me the bright colours were a valid choice.
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u/therealbuggycas 29d ago
Me, looking at my room full of almost exclusively hypersaturated bright, bold colors whose favorite color is neon pink. Welp. Guess I'm a guy now.
Seriously though. There is a socialization issue here with the colors. It's not that men prefer dense colors, most men prefer muted colors. It's most men aren't taught the language of color, and it's been scientifically proven that not knowing the name of a color makes it harder to differentiate between them! So the very fact that a woman knows the difference between lavender and violet (a softer color and a denser color) when a man would only know both as purple? It changes his perception of the colors themselves.
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u/UseAnAdblocker 29d ago
I don’t see what’s wrong with this statement if it’s just a generalization based on data
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u/N3pheron 29d ago
I'm a woman who loves dense colours. All mexicans love dense colours it's cultural. I want colours to hurt my eyes, I'm not an old dutch person.
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u/Extension_Vacation_2 29d ago
I think they never heard about colour “seasons”. As a true winter, gimme all the gem and saturated tones.
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u/SomeCharactersAgain 28d ago
The amount of mind numbingly stupid shit that got posted in the last 24 hours feels like a day release
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u/Evie_Astrid 28d ago
I adore a rich palette of warm, autumnal hues; Absolutely nothing I own is pastel, or 'ice cream' coloured.
Teal and magenta, for the non autumn aesthetic.
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