Photographer documents gender stereotypes as studies show how kids' perception ...

Photographer JeonMee Yoon is using books, toys, clothing and more to capture the pervasiveness of kids' color-coded gender roles.  

In an illustrative photo series, Yoon, a South Korea-based photographer, conveys the ubiquity of a simple and often unspoken rule: blue for boys and pink for girls.  

As reported by Wired, Yoon's work, titled Pink and Blue Project, which began in 2005, initially inspired by her own daughter, is intended  not just as a showcase of pervasive gender roles through kids' color-coded belongings, but as a dissection of the effectiveness of the marketing, or 'objectification,' behind the phenomenon. 

'I ask each model to sustain a blank, neutral expression to underline an 'objectification' of each child, and I request various poses to heighten the differences in gender and personal characteristics among my subjects,' Yoon told Wired. 

Yoon's work aims to highlight the forces behind the color-coding by gender and its ubiquity in kids' toys. Pictured: Agnes in 2015

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Yoon's work aims to highlight the forces behind the color-coding by gender and its ubiquity in kids' toys. The project began in 2005 and revisited the kids over the years. Pictured: Agnes in 2009 and 2015

Children selected in Yoon's work -- a group from New York, New Jersey, and Seoul whom she was given permission to photograph -- were also photographed five and 10 years later in the third iteration of the project. 

According to researchers, the power of color-coded marketing which is conveyed vividly through Yoon's photos is also backed by science and extends beyond western culture and into Asia.

In a a study of 139 pre-school aged children in Hong Kong published in Springer journal Sex Roles, researchers found that the preference for color outshone most other difference between respondents. 

'Our findings support the notion that gender-typed liking for pink versus blue is a particularly salient gender difference,' said one of the authors, Sui Ping Yeung. 

'Moreover, our findings reveal that gender differences could be created merely by applying gender labels.' 

Things weren't always blue for boys and pink for girls. According to reports in an American newspaper from 1918, it used to be the other way around. Pictured: Noelle in 2006
‹ Slide me › Things weren't always blue for boys and pink for girls. According to reports in an American newspaper from 1918, it used to be the other way around. Pictured: Noelle in 2015

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Things weren't always blue for boys and pink for girls. According to reports in an American newspaper from 1918, it used to be the other way around.  Some dramatically changed their preferences with age, as shown above. Pictured: Noelle in 2006 and 2015

In Blue and Pink JeongMee Yoon's photos focuses on gender-based marketing by documenting kids as in five year intervals. Pictured: Kihun in 2007
In Blue and Pink JeongMee Yoon's photos focuses on gender-based marketing by documenting kids as in five year intervals. Pictured: Kihun in 2018

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In Blue and Pink JeongMee Yoon's photos focuses on gender-based marketing by documenting kids as in five year intervals. Pictured: Kihun in 2007 and 2018 

Outside of merely influencing color-preference, researchers note that gender-based marketing of toys like blue for boys and pink for girls may also influence the behavior and perceptions of children as they age.

If a certain genre of toy is made blue -- like a police car or a stethoscope -- it could reinforce the career's associated with those toys as being a profession for men or women. 

In some cases, explicit guidance on gender in toys can even influence kids' performance the research suggest. In the study, puzzles labeled as 'for boy' tended to result in males outperforming their female counterparts.

‹ Slide me › Reticence over gendered toys has centered on their effect on how children view the world. In some cases it can even affect performance says research. Pictured: Michael 2009
‹ Slide me › Reticence over gendered toys has centered on their effect on how children view the world. In some cases it can even affect performance says research. Pictured: Michael in 2015

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Reticence over gendered toys has centered on how they effect kids' view the world. In some cases it can even affect

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