Pink! Why does it have to be pink!?

[Alkorri]

I feel somewhat silly posting this, but it's been gnawing at me for a few days now. Itty bitty brain worms nibbling in my subconscious and I happily go on with my life until I see the one thing that triggers it again and my brain goes, RAR this is not right!

[Rant Warning]

That trigger? I'm quite happy to tell people I'm female, but when the time comes to set gender in your Profile, I immediately notice that I get a pink icon. PINK. Boys get Blue! Girls get Pink! Why ARGH why? 

I don't count myself a feminist, and I'm a bit puzzled myself because I am not the type to soul search, but there's something in me that twitches hard when I see mothers dress up their pretty little girl babies all in pink. That twitch occurs again when I trot along supermarket toy aisles and see all the princess tiaras and dresses in pink. (I do see the occasional purple dress, and I go Huzzah!)

I have happily declared to one and all that I am a tomboy and hate the colour pink, when secretly I've played with Barbie dolls *cough*, own things that are coloured "light red" and even today, stare mesmerised at My Little Pony figures (hush you, they are collectibles). 

But when it comes to this, forcing my finger to do that one little thing and switch your gender from Not Telling to Female... I just can't do it. I reserve the right to refuse!    

Am I being silly? ;P

 

[Bloodmorphed]

To be honest I never understood it either. Why is pink considered feminine. I actually like pink. Only when it is not used as a "icon" for females. I also love purple, and this is coming from a nerd-jock. Lol.

Anyways I think that impulse is pretty normal. I have some of the same things. 

 

[Alkorri]

Thanks, Bloodmorphed I think my US friend told me that purple means gay, but being from a non-Western culture, I never understood this ;D

 

[Sir Edward Dewey]

HEY!]
im a guy and I prefer Orange, its my favourite colour... still I dont understand why guys get colour blue either, I mean... I belive its not a MANLY colour like... Red or Black...

 

[Bloodmorphed]

I don't think any color means anything really. Especially giving labels on those colors. Like Gay, Lesbian, Evil, etc. etc. Sadly there are few of us out there that think like this. So in society colors do mean things and has labels.

Also your welcome Alk, though I did assume you were male in our PMs. MY bad!

 

[Dalph]

I remember reading somewhere that the blue was associated to men for noble reasons (which we find even in the classic "prince" in fairy tales), and the pink was setted to women as "carnal", a sort of reference to the menstrual cycle, slightly diluted in color: since the red was not suitable to represent women, because it's tied to the meanings of war and struggle, clearly males characteristics.

Am I being silly? ;P

You're not silly, you're just a Ralph's Disciple, but don't worry there is a remedy to everything.

 

[wallacethepig]

Brains are pink. At least, if there's blood flowing into them. If there isn't, they turn a grayish blue. Like the color used to represent males. Guess what pink is? "Light red". Where is red on a rainbow? It's the FIRST COLOR. Blue is, of course, towards the end. Pink is strictly better than "Baby" blue. Us boys outgrow our "Baby" blue when we grow up, which means we have to pick a different color, whereas you can pick pink as your favorite color and stick with it (if you want to). Be happy. Pink is not as bad as you think it is. Who was your favorite Floyd who wrote songs about walls? Pink Floyd. Yeah, that's right. Not "Baby Bleu" Floyd. Pink Floyd. Because pink is way more awesome than "Babie Bleueueef".

-Wallace

 

[Touchfuzzy]

Pretty sure that was part of the original board software. Maybe? I don't know, I didn't add it.

We could change it, but then it would just turn into a "well what colors DO we use?" If we change them both to different colors, it does come up as a bit less stereotypical I suppose, but it also bypasses the mental shortcuts that are there, even if only because of cultural programming that some could consider damaging, and the color becomes mostly meaningless entirely. I'm really not sure if there is a correct answer to what to do with it.

 

[Alkorri]

@Sir Edward Dewey - Blue has a huge range (blackish blue?). Whereas pink is just..pink? An artist would probably tell me differently hee, hee.

@Bloodmorphed - Haha, all those short stories I wrote you and no lurv? J/K  And yeah, people do like their labels. For instance yellow is considered a royal colour in my culture and only the Sultans were allowed to wear that during official ceremonies. Got me in trouble when I accidentally wore that colour when they were present

@Dalph - Blue does strike me as a noble colour. I like blue, greens too. Interesting that pink should be considered carnal

You're not silly, you're just a Ralph's Disciple, but don't worry there is a remedy to everything.

Praise be Holy Ralph!

@wallacethepig - Pink Floyd is the flamingo, right? 

@Touchfuzzy - Hey, not necessarily asking for a change Although really just the icons will do. I'm not fussy. Hey here's an idea: Make em both pink ;>

 

[Bloodmorphed]

@Sir Edward Dewey - Blue has a huge range (blackish blue?). Whereas pink is just..pink? An artist would probably tell me differently hee, hee.

@Bloodmorphed - Haha, all those short stories I wrote you and no lurv? J/K  And yeah, people do like their labels. For instance yellow is considered a royal colour in my culture and only the Sultans were allowed to wear that during official ceremonies. Got me in trouble when I accidentally wore that colour when they were present

@Dalph - Blue does strike me as a noble colour. I like blue, greens too. Interesting that pink should be considered carnal

Praise be Holy Ralph!

@wallacethepig - Pink Floyd is the flamingo, right? 

@Touchfuzzy - Hey, not necessarily asking for a change Although really just the icons will do. I'm not fussy. Hey here's an idea: Make em both pink ;>

Haha, lots of lurv here. Yup yup, lots of labels. Also you are a fellow Texan (even though you are a new texan). 

 

[Minnow]

Simon Amstell has a fantastic bit about this.

It still upsets me to hear even young, trendy couples saying things like "We’re having a baby, but we don’t know the gender, so we don’t know whether to paint the nursery blue or pink. We might go for yellow, just to be safe." What is the danger here?! Go blue! Go nuts! "But what if it’s a girl!? We don’t want her to grow up to be Bruce Willis!" And then they have the baby and these sentences pour out of them "Oh, we’ve had a girl, but she’s quite a tomboy." What is this word? Maybe your idea of what a girl is supposed to be is quite restrictive. "Oh, we’ve have a boy but he’s playing with dolls." Oh god! Then put him back in!?

It's something that's always bothered me too (though I do consider myself a feminist) so no I wouldn't say you're being silly.

 

[cabfe]

That reminds me of something funny I witnessed every year in my high school.

The doors leading to the toilets had no signs to indicate whether they led to male or female toilets. Only the door was painted either blue or pink.

I don't know for sure, but I heard that it was on purpose that the doors were painted with the "opposite" color as people would expect. You actually had to take the blue door if you were a female and vice versa.

The funny thing is that, every new school year, there was a 100% fail rate for the new students

 

[Alkorri]

@Minnow - Exactly! The Nursery Pink or Blue always made me roll my eyes ;D

That reminds me of something funny I witnessed every year in my high school.

The doors leading to the toilets had no signs to indicate whether they led to male or female toilets. Only the door was painted either blue or pink.

I don't know for sure, but I heard that it was on purpose that the doors were painted with the "opposite" color as people would expect. You actually had to take the blue door if you were a female and vice versa.

The funny thing is that, every new school year, there was a 100% fail rate for the new students

That is hilarious ;D Someone out there really wanted to troll new students heehee.

 

[Another Ned]

It's been years that I heard/learned about that, but a few centuries ago, pink (which is basically just red-violet to me) actually was a royal/noble male colour. I remember the guide talking about it when I was visiting a little castle (Schloss Hämelschenburg, can't find an English name) near Hamelin during a class excursion and someone asked about the portraits of children. On the other hand, even more centuries before that, in Christian religious paintings, deep blue was reserved for one woman's robes, because it was one of the most valuable pigments. Just thought it could be an interesting bit of information (given that I remember correctly), but I'm half asleep, so it may be not. D:

I always thought it weird to label colours. Prevents people from using them because they like them, since there always is some kind of meaning attached to them. When certain colours (/pigments) are hard to obtain, rare and valuable it kind of makes sense, but apart from that... It's confusing. Well, it confuses me at least. x_x

And now I stop before the confusion takes over.

 

[Galenmereth]

A friend of mine refused to buy her baby daughter pink things to avoid the usual stereotype programming, so she got green or even blue items, but trying to stay neutral. Guess what? Now that the girl is old enough to have her own preferences, she absolutely demands pink. Pink everything!

I'm going to go ask Alanis Morissette if the word "ironic" is correct in this context.

 

[Lunarea]

Baby clothes used to be gender-neutral for a very long time. They were white/cream and had lots of frills. I believe it was around 1920's that they started to advertise boy/girl colors - mainly as a way to get customers to buy more clothes.

 

[Alkorri]

Perhaps this all comes down to gender identity from the moment parents tell a child that they are a boy or a girl, and by natural extension, the boy or girl wants to find something to identify with. Thus colours become part of that.

 

[Bloodmorphed]

The only reason for colors having labels is because of society. There is no other reason. Most people automatically see pink as feminine. It is not gener specific either. Males and females will see pink as feminine, at least most. People put a label on it and it sticks. It goes with pretty much everything else as well. Such as High Heels, people have put on a label those are only womens shoes, so men don't wear them. I don't quite understand the human side of making labels for everything, but whatever lol.

 

[Alkorri]

Good lord, I tried high heels once. I FELL.

Never again 

 

[Bloodmorphed]

Good lord, I tried high heels once. I FELL.

Never again 

I have pretty damn good balance so I can walk in high heels. (I did it as a dare once) I had to go to a mall in high heels. That was years ago so I don't think my balance is any good anymore. Ah... that was a fun day. Interesting enough I managed to get a date... but it turned out she was crazy. Who knew? Lol