Understanding Assumption and Inference In Regard To Pink for Girls and Blue for Boys

 

Assumption and Inference In Regard To Pink for Girls and Blue for Boys

Truth can be defined to be the object of thinking, there are some truths that are obvious and there are others that are difficult to acquire. People make decisions that may seem to be simple to them and there are other decisions that are complicated and may not be easy to understand. Take for instance the decision that pink is for girls while blue is for boys, this is something whose origin or background is not really understood and it has major effects on how gender is perceived in the society.

The choice that pink is feminine is solely an assumption which leads the society to infer that a girl that does not wear pink is not feminine. An assumption as defined by Richard and Linda (2012) is basically something that people believe to be true without any form of proof. The concept of assumption is something that is in the human system of beliefs where they assume that these beliefs are true and they use them to try and interpret the world about them. The society as illustrated by Jeanne (2011), assumes that girls are supposed to wear dresses in order to make them feminine. There is however no proof that when girls wear other colours like blue which represents masculinity, they become less feminine. The association between pink and feminism and blue with masculinity is just an assumption that the society have adopted and it is today used to shape the personality of individuals.

Assumption is what brings about inference, where inference can be defined as that act where an individual concludes that something is true in respect of something else being or seeming true (Richard and Linda, 2012). Inference is basically the conclusion that is drawn from evidence and reasoning, this can actually be explained to be an educated guess where one comes up with a conclusion based on previous experiences. Human beings are naturally structured in such a way that they use their beliefs as assumption and they end up making inferences based on those assumptions. This happens because people want to make sense of where they are, what is happening around them and what their role is in the society (Richard and Linda, 2012). Human beings cannot act with assumptions and inferences which make them part of who they are, people make decisions, form understandings and come up with conclusions based on what they belief.

When human beings are put in a situation, the first thing that they do is try to give the situation some meaning in order for them to understand it better. People have assumptions and inferences for everything that happens in their society, a good instance is the basic assumption that when dark clouds appear, then it must rain. Yes in most cases it rains whenever the dark clouds form, but this is not something that must happen; there are times when the dark clouds will appear and it does not rain.

As illustrated by Richard and Linda (2012), ‘human experiences are shaped by the inferences that they make during these experiences’. In the case of colours and gender, people did not really associate colours with gender in the past, children actually wore white dresses for the first six years of their lives whether boy or girl because white was easy to bleach as compared to the other colours. Colours was not a representation of gender and children grew up knowing that they had the choice of wearing any colour that they wanted without being ridiculed by the society around them (Jeanne, 2011). The fact that the society did not have the assumption that certain colours are for certain genders did not lead to the inference of colours being referenced with certain gender traits.

However as the society continued to evolve and gender roles started being embraced, things changed and everything started being connected with matters of gender. Men were assumed to be the stronger sex while women were viewed to be the weaker sex meaning that everything associated with men represented masculinity. Pink is a soft flashy colouring hence its association with women who are thought to be soft spoken and they are looked as delicate. Blue on the other side is somewhat dull but at the same time project a strong shade hence its association with men that are viewed to be strong and independent (Jeanne, 2011).

The assumption that pink is for girls and blue is for boys has led to the inference that the people that break tis norm are either not feminine or masculine enough. This is where a girl that chose to wear blue is labelled to be a tomboy and not a real woman while the boy that loves pink is labelled to be homosexual and not man enough. There is really no proof that the choice of colour that one chooses determines one’s personality, a colour is just an element of choice that should not have any verdict on the kind of an individual that one is. The society need to change its prejudiced thinking and give people a chance to choose their paths in life. people need to start thinking and actually questioning the extent to which their assumptions are justified and the effect of the inferences of this assumptions have on the society at large in order to create a better just world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Maglaty, J. (2011). When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? Retrieved March 29, 2018, from

            https://app.simplenote.com/publish/xh9r1q

Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2012). Distinguishing Between Inferences and Assumptions. Retrieved

            March 29, 2019, from https://app.simplenote.com/publish/Sfn5CD