Gendering colours

Kitty

I was flicking through one of my cookery books this evening (a baking-based one, that was written by a former Great British Bake Off contestant), & I noticed some gender stereotyping in some of what this author had written. I quote: In the introduction: “[the author’s cousin] is nearly 40 now & [she!] still remember[s] being in awe of these amazing bakes, iced in pink for the girls & blue for the boys.” In the blurb for a recipe for a baby shower giant cupcake: “Blue for a boy, pink for a girl or half-and-half if you don’t know yet!” In the blurb for a recipe for raspberry iced fingers: “These are such pretty iced buns- they would work fabulously for a girly tea party.” (the icing is pink). In the blurb for a biscuit recipe: “These flavour combinations work extremely well, & the colours are so pretty it’s the sort of thing I’d do at a girly afternoon tea.” Why on earth are some people so determined to gender colours, & describe pink as a ‘girly’ colour & blue as a colour aimed at boys? And it’s a bit depressing that in this instance, these views were expressed by a woman.