You know, I'm pretty sure the tradition of swaddling baby girls in pink wasn't around for the time period Narnia's in. Does Narnia even have pink dyes?
They probably had cinnabar, which can give a sort of an orange-pinkish hue (it's been around since the ancient times). However, up until the 1920s babies were always dressed and swaddled in white, and from the 1920s to the 1950s girls tended to be dressed and swaddled in blue (for example, during the 20s Walmart and several other big chain stores advertised pink baby clothes for boys and blue for girls), so that'd be what the Pevensies would see their little sisters wearing.
I hate hate hate it with a burning passion when people try to argue that some colours are "naturally" suited to specific sexes. No, they aren't, and pink wasn't considered "girly" until someone in the 50s thought it would be an OMG good idea to market it as such. The most ridiculous example of colour sexism I've ever seen was in a comment on my friend's cooking blog. She had a layout made with hues of brown (brown! not pink), but later changed it to hues of light blue. One guy-reader commented that it feels nice since the blog stopped looking so "old lady" and started looking "masculine". I swear, it seems as if some people's mission in life is to perpetually piss me off.
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Date: 2011-05-06 10:31 am (UTC)They probably had cinnabar, which can give a sort of an orange-pinkish hue (it's been around since the ancient times). However, up until the 1920s babies were always dressed and swaddled in white, and from the 1920s to the 1950s girls tended to be dressed and swaddled in blue (for example, during the 20s Walmart and several other big chain stores advertised pink baby clothes for boys and blue for girls), so that'd be what the Pevensies would see their little sisters wearing.
I hate hate hate it with a burning passion when people try to argue that some colours are "naturally" suited to specific sexes. No, they aren't, and pink wasn't considered "girly" until someone in the 50s thought it would be an OMG good idea to market it as such. The most ridiculous example of colour sexism I've ever seen was in a comment on my friend's cooking blog. She had a layout made with hues of brown (brown! not pink), but later changed it to hues of light blue. One guy-reader commented that it feels nice since the blog stopped looking so "old lady" and started looking "masculine".
I swear, it seems as if some people's mission in life is to perpetually piss me off.