Why did they dress little boys like little girls?
The way children have been dressed first relates to ideas of infancy, development, and gender identity. Until the eighteenth century most babies were wrapped in swaddling cloth, put in short dresses, then dressed in miniature adult clothing while still quite young in preparation for adult roles. The 1760’s brought in philosophies of Rousseau which promoted clothing that allowed for children’s natural development. Dresses promoted movement and ease for both sexes. Though adult roles were extremely gender specific, small children’s clothing was not. The specifics of dress in every period of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries cannot be discussed here as they changed with fashion, science and culture. General theories and tendencies, however, can be discussed. Many images of small boys from the Victorian period and earlier appear feminine by today’s standards. Some images show young boys in dresses almost identical to those of girls. Late nineteenth century images show boys in the lit
