A soon-to-be-boy-mom got absolutely roasted on social media after her request for a “boy car seat” went viral. The distressed woman, who had been donated a pink infant car seat, had been urgently looking for alternatives to match her future son’s gender better. As a result, people have been mocking the pregnant lady’s ridiculous heteronormative bias.

Taking to the Reddit community Choosing Beggars on Saturday (July 6), a person shared a screenshot of what appeared to be a Facebook post with a photograph of a hot pink baby car seat.

The post was captioned: “The one I got for free isn’t the want I wanted.”

As per the screenshot, a pregnant woman, whose identity has been blurred, explained: “I’m looking for a newborn car seat for a boy, I’m due any day now. 

“I was given one but unfortunately, it’s pink. 

“If anyone is willing to trade or maybe even donate a boy one. It will be greatly appreciated.”

A soon-to-be-boy-mom got absolutely roasted on social media after her request for a “boy car seat” went viral

Image credits: ChoosingBeggars

In recent generations, the color blue has been traditionally associated with baby boys, while pink has been linked to baby girls.

Nevertheless, plenty of Redditors ruthlessly ridiculed the mom, as a person asked: “Is she worried about the other babies making fun of him for having a pink car seat?”

“I’m 99.9% sure that they’re afraid it will make him gay,” an observer commented.

Someone quipped: “No no, you misunderstand. You see, girl car seats only protect baby girls.

“Safety is gendered, NASA, Bill Gates, and the Masons don’t want you to know this. 

“It’s actually apart of the sinister gay agenda. Stay informed.”

Image credits: Pexels/rdne stock project

A netizen recalled: “I gave someone a pink blanket for their firstborn; they told me later they liked it so much they used it for all their ensuing children, including the then-current newborn, a boy. 

“‘It’s pink and I don’t care.’ (It was super soft/cozy.)

“Almost like the baby has no understanding of pink and blue cultural meaning anyway?”

The woman, who had been donated a pink infant car seat, had been urgently looking for alternatives to match her future son’s gender better

Image credits: Pexels/rdne stock project

“Nothing worse than trying to leave the hospital with a newborn and they refuse to get in the car seat because it’s pink,” a cybernaut sarcastically noted.

An additional Redditor penned: “I heard this is the number one cause of homosexuality.”

A commenter added: “That’s terrible, everyone knows a pink car seat isn’t safe for a baby boy! 

“They only protect baby girls in a car accident.”

Image credits: Disney+

Another Reddit user argued: “She wants to post her new baby going home in the car and doesn’t want the car seat to be in pink. 

“I don’t know this person but I am 100% positive this is what’s happening.”

A separate individual chimed in: “I got all pink stuff from my sister. When I go out they sometimes think my son is a girl. 

“I am just glad I didn’t have to buy all this stuff. She should be grateful.”

People have been mocking the pregnant lady’s ridiculous heteronormative bias

Image credits: Paramount Pictures

The color pink being associated with the female gender is a modern concept. In fact, pink was historically considered a masculine color. 

“If you go back to the 18th century, little boys and little girls of the upper classes both wore pink and blue and other colors uniformly,” Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, told CNN in 2018.

In old catalogs and books, pink was the color for little boys, Leatrice Eiseman, a color expert and executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, informed the American broadcaster.

Leatrice continued: “It was related to the mother color of red, which was ardent and passionate and more active, more aggressive. 

“Even though you reduce the shade level, it was a color that was associated with boys.”

/rdne stock project

An article titled Pink or Blue, published in the trade journal The Infants’ Department in 1918, reportedly said that the generally accepted rule was that pink was for boys and blue was for girls. 

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“The reason is that pink being a decided and stronger color is more suitable for the boy,” the dated article read.

Moreover, gender neutrality was also favored in previous generations. Jo Paoletti, professor emerita at the University of Maryland, explained in her book Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America that in the 19th century, parents preferred to dress their children in white so as not to emphasize their gender, Forbes reported in 2023.

The color pink being associated with the female gender is a modern concept

Image credits: Pexels/Vu Tran Hong

Jo wrote: “Few parents in 1880 would be comfortable dressing their year-old son to express his masculinity or choosing clothing to accentuate their infant daughter’s femininity.

“Gendered dress was considered inappropriate for young children whose asexual innocence was often cited as one of their greatest charms.”

It wasn’t until after World War II that pink came to be equated with femininity. According to a 2015 article published by Racked, people formed that association largely because it was First Lady Mamie Eisenhower’s favorite color. 

Not for any special reason, though; she supposedly just liked the way it set off her skin tone and pretty blue eyes, the defunct outlet stated.

Image credits: Pexels/Monstera Production

The First Lady’s full-skirted, rhinestone-covered pale pink ballgown and opera gloves she wore to her husband’s 1953 inauguration reportedly became the antithesis of the overalls women had been wearing to work in factories during the war. 

During the Eisenhower administration in the US, the White House featured so many pink furnishings that it came to be known as “the Pink Palace.”

Today’s color dictate wasn’t established until the 1940s, as a result of Americans’ preferences as interpreted by manufacturers and retailers. “It could have gone the other way,” author Jo told Smithsonian Magazine in 2011.

Following the reverse phenomenon during the women’s liberation movement throughout the mid-1960s to the 1970s, which saw women abandoning the color pink, the return of the gender divide through pink and blue made a strong comeback in the late 1980s.

Pink was historically considered a masculine color

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Image credits: Pexels/Monstera Production

Prenatal testing was a big reason for the change, as per Smithsonian Magazine. Expectant parents learned the sex of their unborn baby and then went shopping for “girl” or “boy” merchandise. 

According to child development experts, children only become conscious of their gender between ages three and four, and they do not realize it is permanent until age six or seven, Smithsonian Magazine reported.

At the same time, however, they are the subjects of sophisticated and pervasive advertising that tends to reinforce social conventions. “So they think, for example, that what makes someone female is having long hair and a dress,’’ Jo explained. “They are so interested—and they are so adamant in their likes and dislikes.”

Image credits: Pexels/Diego Severino Castro Silva

The author highlighted parents of children who do not conform to gender roles, saying: “One thing I can say now is that I’m not real keen on the gender binary—the idea that you have very masculine and very feminine things. 

“The loss of neutral clothing is something that people should think more about. 

“And there is a growing demand for neutral clothing for babies and toddlers now, too.”

The retired professor further explained: “There is a whole community out there of parents and kids who are struggling with ‘My son really doesn’t want to wear boy clothes, prefers to wear girl clothes.’”

The post on Reddit continued to ignite gender bias debates

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