In 2007, British researcher Anya Hurlbert conducted a nature-nurture study on the influence of culture and biology as it pertains to color spectrum preference. She entered the study with the bias that color identification for women was most likely influenced by culture, but what she discovered was something quite different. Whether testing girls from remote and non-commercialized parts of China, or their more urbanized British counterparts, females constantly appeared to demonstrate a preference for colors on the red end of the spectrum.
The ability for women to notice shades of red has historically offered women two specific advantages. In early agrarian cultures, the ability for the eye to be drawn towards red spectrum color items once allowed women to locate and gather fruits and berries in a more adept manner than their male counterparts. In today’s modern culture, these heightened gathering and location skills are arguably still giving women an upper hand in their ability to detect pattern shifts and locate misplaced items with greater ease than men.
The second benefit of this color spectrum tendency affords women a psychological and physiological advantage over their male counterparts. The ability for women to detect subtle shifts in body temperature, through observations of skin tone modifications, allows women to more readily identify emotional distress and physical discomfort both in their children and in their peers.
Marketing wizards may have indeed exploited our female tendency to be drawn towards these red spectrum colors, and most notably the softer red-blue shades of pink and lavender. However, what Hurlbert came to discover in the great nature-nurture debate, was that our color spectrum preferences had less to do with marketing influenced identity and more to do with our innate female strengths.
Beyond the Hood
There once was a girl with a special red hood.
Who made her way through a troubling wood.
She seemed a wise one the people would say.
Yet even the warned, from the path sometimes stray.
Her mother had taught her to know right from wrong.
So her stray from the path was thankfully, not long.
It’s not possible to walk a path void of strife.
So arm your children well against future wolves in their life.
Her story ends well. I’m happy to say.
Due to the cloak she’d chosen that day.
The lesson we take from the girl wrapped in red:
The wisest of children, follow their heart and their head.
For over a year, the blonde has been enthralled with the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The mother, having a love for fairy tales and classic literature in general, purchased an impressive library of illustrated classical books for the children to read each night. This library enhancement was part of the mother’s attempt to offer bedtime reading selections outside of the spectrum of tales only featuring cats, bears and a pig named Olivia. To the mother’s delight The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Three Little Pigs, Beauty and the Beast, and Little Red Riding Hood had become some of the children’s most favorite selections.
The story of Little Red Riding Hood has a long and rich legacy within historical folklore. The story itself was passed down through oral tradition long before French Author Charles Perrault brought it to the page in the 17th Century. The classic story is made up of the following cast of characters: a cape wearing girl, a deceptive wolf, an instructional mother, some mysterious woods, and a redeeming woodcutter.
The original story concluded with a moral that cautioned young women to discern who the true wolves in their lives might in fact be. Perrault was wise to point out that wolves come in various and occasionally not so obvious forms. Perhaps some of the most dangerous wolves are the ones who possess their own cloaks. These subtle wolves might wear cloaks of charm, polish, duplicitousness, and sinister intention. Perrault leaves the reader with this final thought, “It is these subtle wolves that are the most dangerous of all my young ladies.”
One night, as the mother was reading Little Red Riding Hood to the children, she paused and said, “What are Little Red Riding Hood’s mother’s two rules?” Quickly the blonde chimed in, “Stay on the path and don’t talk to wolves!” “That’s correct,” the mother replied. “Now, why do you think the little girl wears a red cape?” the mother continued, curious to see how the children might respond.
The previously wriggly children pause as if in evident and deep contemplation. The mother looked towards the boy who had tipped his head ever so slightly to the right. “Maybe because she likes red,” the boy answered. The mother, amused at his literalism, replied, “Yes, that could be one reason.” Then the mother casts a glance in the direction of the blonde who stated, “I think she likes red…..because it helps her to be brave on her path.” The mother simply smiled and replied, “I love that answer. I think you might be right.” A coy smile and sparkling blue eyes, suddenly transformed the blonde’s formerly focused expression into one of pride.
Later that night, the mother reflected upon the nature of the blonde. Ever since she was a little girl, the blonde has always been very cautious of new environments and new people. This innate tendency towards heightened skepticism and caution has always been a struggle for the mother to help the little girl to navigate.
The mother had even noticed, in more recent days, how often she offered a verbal and apologetic explanation of the little girl’s intense and downward gazing expression. Now that the blonde was older, and most certainly aware of the adult conversation taking place two feet above her head, the mother had actually resolved to attempt to curb her apologetic tendencies in regards to the blonde’s posturing.
The mother felt that unnecessary attention was being granted to something she would argue was not an optimal social behavior and therefore she was inadvertently shining an even greater spotlight on the action by its mere mention. Additionally, the mother was also concerned she would be sending a mixed message to the little girl in regards to the fact that her natural tendency towards skepticism was some how wrong, simply because it was different from the bulk of her peers.
Should you have conducted a poll of individuals who were acquainted with the mother in her youth, and asked them the following question, “what was she like as a child?” The answer you most certainly would have received would have been one simple word, “shorter.” While the mother certainly had seasons of self-discovery and uncertainly in some aspects of her maturity….. the truth is, she had always been a confident, extroverted individual. It was understandably very challenging for her to assist a child who so readily grabbed for a cloak of skepticism when it came to social navigation.
The mother instead, vowed to consider the often-reached-for cloak as one of the blonde’s strengths. In her observation of the blonde, with other children her own age, the mother noticed the blonde appeared to possess a confident sense of self. The mother had come to believe that a child who possessed the strength to say no within social settings might in fact be more prepared for the navigation of the developing years ahead. Children who easily offered a posture of conformity and the inclination to say yes to situations and peers certainly offered their own future set of social navigation challenges. The cloak therefore, from the mother’s perspective, was becoming a positive source of self-actualization rather than a negative shield of skepticism.
The next day as the mother escorted the little girls to retrieve their brother from the nearby bus stop, they passed a wooded area in the neighborhood. The blonde turned and said, “Mommy, those sure are some dark and spooky woods. ” The mother smiled and replied, “Well, I don’t really think they are dark and spooky. Those are just shadows that you are seeing. I think the trees are quite lovely.” The blonde paused and replied, “But those woods are not part of my path mommy. I have to always stay on my path.”
Suddenly, the mother realized the words of a fabled, cautionary mother offered centuries before to her brave, cape-wearing daughter, rang with even deeper truths than she had ever realized. Stay on the path. Don’t talk to wolves.
Staying on the path did not mean living a life void of individuality or adventure. It simply meant that it was important to be true to yourself and to follow your own unique journey into adulthood. The wolves very well might be specific people, but they might also represent circumstances or choices that pull our children off course from becoming the most amazing culmination of all their individual strengths and unique gifts. It is our job as parents to prepare our children for these wolves.
It was in that moment that the mother realized the blonde’s cloak of skepticism might indeed be one of her greatest path traveling tools. According to Anya Hurlbert’s study, the blonde’s preferred cloak might indeed be pink and sparkly but it could also be comprised of something more. The cloak could be woven from the world’s strongest silk, courtesy of Madagascar’s bark spider, and remind the mother daily that beauty and strength are found in the most extraordinary people.
The Motherhood in Technicolor Memo: While modern author Piper Kerman might have enlightened us to the possibility that orange is the new black and therefore a symbol of regained power. I would argue that pink might be the old red and a symbol of renewed strength. We should no longer assume that the soft and passive tones of pink some how diminish our daughter’s strength. In truth it just might be an innate, biological imperative that draws our daughters to that very shade of red, which enhances their ability to become gifted nurturers and relational people.
As parents, whether raising boys or girls, we are responsible to aid our children in becoming the exact person they were created to be. It would be wonderful to envision a world where we protect our children from every possible wolf they might encounter on their path. However, instead of focusing on the inevitable dangers, I would suggest we shift our focus towards fostering the individual strengths and enhancing the unique qualities our children possess. Helping our children to develop their sense of self and to don a bright red cloak of confidence will enable their story to become one people want to read again and again.
Summer Smith is a speaker, writer, and motherhood blogger. She and her family are currently navigating the suburbs of Northern Virginia. As the mother to four young children, Summer maintains her sanity thanks to her sense of humor, copious amounts of coffee, and Amazon Prime. Maya Angelou once said, when reflecting on her childhood, that her mother left an impression like technicolor stars in the midnight sky. Influenced by these words, Summer blogs at her website Motherhood in Technicolor, and can also be found on her Motherhood in Technicolor Facebook page.