Based on today’s norms, the
children in the above photographs might appear to be girls. Even early museum
records reference the drawing on the right as “Portrait of Two Young Girls” and
the painting on the left as “Little Girl with Dog.” Many visitors are surprised
to hear, however, that two of the three children pictured above are boys.
The hyper-gendering of young
children’s clothing in the U.S. today is a recent phenomenon, not common before
the 1940s. Previously, little boys wore dresses and long hair until the age of
six or seven. White dresses, since they could be bleached clean, were the most
functional clothing option for all children.
