“Eww, you like pink?” is a question I despise hearing. Why should anyone be ridiculed for liking a color? While the typical stereotype is that pink is only for girls and blue can only be liked and worn by boys, I don’t believe that a color should correlate with a person’s gender. Every color is meant to be appreciated by every person.
Classic movies usually use pink to represent women, such as Mean Girls coining the iconic phrase “on Wednesdays we wear pink” and Grease including the well-known pink ladies. Rarely in Hollywood will there be a man, in any form of entertainment: radio, movies, TV, social media, etc, that is represented by the color pink. Women, on the other hand, will find themselves surrounded by the enchanting color, such as Reese Witherspoon, in the movie poster for Legally Blonde and Alicia Silverstone, in her movie poster for Clueless. The association of women with the color pink never gets a second glance, as it is expected, but if a Mission Impossible, or Austin Powers movie included pink in the cover it would spark complete outrage. People simply assume that when a man is in any way associated with the color pink, he is weak and feminine. That should not be the case.
Finding men’s clothing in the color pink is a near impossible task. While strolling through the men’s section of any store there is a shining array of greens, blues, grays and blacks. What those aisles lack is any shade of pink that can only be found in the women’s clothing area. Such a shame, because pink looks really good on most people, especially men. Whether it be a light pink hoodie or a simple pink bracelet, I strongly believe that pink should be incorporated into every man’s wardrobe. Pink should be viewed as an empowering and fierce color, rather than relating it to a woman, and viewing it as a fragile and girly color. Men are scared to wear pink, out of a fear that they will be ridiculed and that worry that pink will damage their precious masculinity. Pink is a color that is meant to be worn by men and women both, and rather than creating images of weakness and frailty, pink should be seen as both a powerful and energizing color, that all people can wear with pride, without judgment.