Growing up as a girl, I was expected to like specific colours that were associated with my gender – pink, lilac, peach. Of course, most people would think pink if asked which colour represented a ‘girl’. Pink is a feminine colour, pink is girly, and pink is pretty. Yet it is also seen as fragile, weak, and these negative connotations have resulted in many girls, including myself, detesting it. Why would we want to be linked to weakness? That isn’t the only problem, however. Every time child me perused toys, clothes, and other items, I would be bombarded with pink. As a result, I began to despise it; there was more to me than this shade on the rainbow spectrum. I wanted blue, red, and green things. I wanted to fit in with the boys, who would scorn and scoff at us girls. Pink was hideous to them, and gradually, it became hideous to me. It was a symbol of disgust, of vulnerability and fragility. I wanted to disassociate from these dismissive images. Yet, why was blue, the colour tied to boys, not treated with the same amount of contempt? Instead, it was positive and popular. Blue went with everything. It evidenced a strength that pink could never replicate.
In my teenage years, my hatred of pink stayed the same. Boys still made fun of it. Coupled with misogynistic phrases, like ‘you fight like a girl’, or if you weren’t happy and smiling: ‘you must be on your period’, pink remained as a figure of revulsion. My internalized disgust at anything feminine was worsened by the desire to fit in with society and agree with its dismissal of femininity. It wasn’t until I left school did I begin to appreciate the colour again. I must admit, I went a bit overboard in my attempt to love pink once more: my laptop cover is pink, many of my room decorations are pink, and my bedding is pink. But this is fine – every girl and woman should be able to show off their likes and dislikes. It’s also fine to not want anything pink, but you shouldn’t feel as if you’re being pressured to dislike it. Would someone tease you if your room was all-white? Pink is harmless, and everyone, every gender, should feel free to adore it.
It is necessary to teach little girls, and little boys, that a simple colour does not prove that you’re ‘weak’ or ‘shallow’. It is important to teach little girls, and little boys, that pink is beyond any ridiculous stereotypes. Pink is everywhere – flowers are pink, hearts are pink, animals can be pink. Even your hair can be pink. It makes me, and so many others, happy, and that’s how it should be.