It starts at birth.
Given the new trend of gender reveal parties, it’s starting even before birth in some cases.
Relating color to gender normative behavior is an old tradition that must die. We say pink means girl, and blue means boy, and we get swept up in the charade because it’s “cute”.
Cutting into a pink cake in front of all your friends while seven months pregnant seems harmless. It’s a party.
Allow me to ruin the party.
When we tell girls to wear pink, and boys to wear blue, we are conditioning our future generations to believe they must reside in one of these categories. When we have gender reveal parties and the guests include young children, what are we saying to them?
We could be focused on the whole rainbow, instead. Every color is for every one.
We are making strides in this area, yet I would argue we are not yet fully aware. We seem to be breaking down stereotypes just to turn around and build new ones. Like gender reveal parties.
Or the trend surrounding men wearing pink.
“Real men wear pink.”
What?
Why?
Because society has forced this color of women for generations, giving it a stigma of weakness and delicacy. “Pink is for girls”, right?
So if a man wears it, he’s owning some weird persona that men aren’t supposed to wear colors that denote femininity.
I say that pink isn’t a gender norm - it’s a lifestyle.
The idiom of seeing the world through rose-colored glasses inspired the Frank Sinatra classic:
“Lookin' at the world through rose-colored glasses
Everything is rosy now
Lookin' at the world and everything that passes
Seems a rosy hue somehow”
Which of course means, to see the brighter side of things.
If you physically put on a pair of rose-colored glasses, the colors are literally brighter. Greener greens, bluer blues, like an acid trip without the high.
Old Blue Eye, eat your heart out.
This is why I say to all women: let’s reclaim pink.
I did not like pink for a very long time. In fact, my friends would say I was outspoken regarding my feelings of pink. When I stopped to think of why, I realized it was the stigma behind pink: “girlish, dependent, a little bit silly, a little bit soft, a little bit fickle, cute, and just generally weak”. (https://fitisafeministissue.com/2013/02/26/whats-so-bad-about-pink-anyway/)
Here me out.
If you’re the type that’s into chakras, so am I. It just so happens that the colors white and red make pink, right? The seventh and highest chakra, part of the Crown chakras, glows with white energy:
“White chakra energy is pure, powerful and symbolizes oneness in the universe. this energy centre is associated with metaphysics, consciousness, oneness and unconditional love.
Activating and bringing the Crown chakra in to balance is usually the last step in ascension meditation, and doing so can take you to higher dimensions of consciousness.”
Starting at the beginning of the human chakra system, the Root chakra forms the base through which all metaphysical awakenings and energy must flow. It is the colour red, and when it is excited with energy, it glows around the reproductive system.” (https://www.spiritualunite.com/articles/white-chakra-meaning/)
The color pink is the color of universal love of oneself and of others. Pink represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, and approachability.
These are things I want to be. Goals of mine to personify and add to my list of skills.
Examining my relationship with the color pink was a short, honest conversation I had in my head. Yet it allowed me a greater understanding and appreciation for not just the color pink, but for myself as well.
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