Is aiming toys and clothes at specific genders harmless?

Anyone who saw the photos of 17-month-old North West in an over-sized grey t-shirt, black leather leggings, and customised Van trainers would probably assume that her outfit was chosen by her parents — Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.

Not so, according to Kardashian, who has said that North “likes to keep it pretty simple”. “She’s not that girly”, Kim told Lucky magazine. “She doesn’t like pink or purple.”

Yet, according to apocryphal wisdom, all girls love pink. In 2007, a colour experiment conducted by neuroscientists at Newcastle University seemed to corroborate this belief when the study found that women tended to prefer colours on the red-purple spectrum, while men preferred blue-green.