The power and prejudice of pink

Pink. For years, I despised it. Yet as a child, I loved the pink Barbies that were handed down to me. I even rooted for the Pink Ranger in Power Rangers SPD. These memories serve as reminders that the colour once belonged to me. But somewhere along the way, it didnt. Now, in my mid-twenties, things seem to have shifted. I bought a hot pink gadget after ignoring the saleswoman who insisted it looked awful. I find myself drawn to pink clothes, nail paint, and so much more, almost subconsciously. Around the same time, social media also amplified this rediscovery, revealing how many others had tread the same path as me. In a quest to find more about their journeys, I urged people, particularly women, to open the pink Pandoras boxes that they had shut away. And when they kicked it open, no curses were hurled, and no weakness nor fragility was found either. Instead, they reported having found joy and rebellion in finally reclaiming the colour as their own. Social baggage Suneha Saran, a psychologist and psychotherapist, highlights that a majority of women reject pink because of its social and cultural ties. She says pink has been coded as a marker of weakness, vulnerability, and compliance, prompting many women to reject it in the pursuit of credibility and independence. Corroborating this are women who recall how pink was once chosen for them sewn into their clothes, slipped into their accessories, and pressed into every part of their girlhood not just by their family, but by brands and popular culture. Alongside, they say, came the unspoken script: women and girls are soft, fragile, gentle, and weak, and they also like pink. I remember actively avoiding pink in school and college because I didnt want to be seen as too girly or uncool. Even small choices, like picking a pink notebook or a pink top, felt loaded because pink was often associated with being delicate, overly feminine, or superficial. I felt boxed in by those associations, and so I rejected it, says Prajakta G, a journalist. This sentiment is echoed by Akchayaa R, a content writer. I loved reading Barbie books as a child, and people at school made fun of me because Barbies were treated as uncool, and I think that at some level I started imbibing that. So to be perceived cool, I had to shun anything associated with conventional femininity, including pink, she says, adding how she also put up a front that she wasnt like other girls who like pink to appear cool. Raanya P, a student, and Sahana, a photographer, speak of how they went a step further and proudly called themselves tomboys in middle school. For them both, the rejection of pink, alongside anything associated with femininity, was tied to something bigger: society at large saw women as weak, says Raanya and distancing themselves from the colour felt like distancing themself from that label because they understood that pink was what they were expected to be. Even within the typecast of women as natural admirers of pink, the colour was policed by tone and intensity. Deepthi R, a dance instructor, recalls how her family labelled the brightest shade jatak pink as attention-seeking, a judgment that not only carried moral undertones about visibility but also led her to discard her favourite pair of bright pink pants. The men and queer narrative Men, meanwhile, say that pink was less about personal choice and more a tool for others to question, label, or assume their sexuality. For Gangadharan, a journalist, being associated with pink entailed bullying. As far as I remember, since middle school, when I figured I liked things that are deemed feminine like dressing up, make-up etc., I began hating the associations of such things, including colours to gender. I have always hated blue and never wanted to associate with blue just because I am a man. And I remember avoiding pink to not get bullied, he says. Srihari Sundaram, a business support coordinator, remembers how boys in his class were made fun of if they used anything that was pink. He says that although he had also subconsciously affiliated a gender to pink as a boy, he found himself drawn to the colour in his adulthood. Niro talks about how the colour impacted them as a queer person. As someone who was assigned male at birth, I didnt have too many pinks in my wardrobe whereas my sister had. But pink was always an obsession. They add, I honestly dont know why gender matters when it comes to accessories and colour choices. It is beyond me because I am a simple person who wants to live my own life but because of gender labelling these things, my life remains complicated. Pink in pop culture Films across industries reveal how pink has been weaponised as a shorthand for shallow or unintelligent femininity. In Mean Girls (2004), the Plastics mantra On Wednesdays, we wear pink became iconic, yet it still reduces girlhood to vanity and conformity. High School Musical (2006) similarly codes Sharpay Evans flamboyantly pink wardrobe as a symbol of her one-dimensional diva persona. Bollywood offers its own version in Shanaya Singhania from Student of the Year (2012), whose pastel-to-hot pink fashion signals her status-conscious, ornamental role. These tropes echo in Tamil cinema as well. In Kandasamy (2009), Shriya Sarans pink-coded glamour underscores her decorative presence. The loosu ponnu roles in Tamil cinema, where actors, often dressed in pinks and pastel are written as nave, ornamental, and lacking narrative agency, are also examples. In the neighbouring Telugu industry too, examples are abundant, including Ritu from Oh My Friend (2011). Very few films broke away from this stereotype. Legally Blonde (2001) begins by framing Elle Woods as a ditzy, pink-obsessed sorority girl. But it shows how she subverts the stereotype by proving her intelligence and ambition. Barbie (2023), too, redeemed pink as an empowered and aesthetic choice. After living in a world drowned in pink, she steps out at the end for her gynaecologist appointment in a brown suit with a pink bag and pink Birkenstocks, carrying the colour with autonomy and identity. Much like Barbie in the film, women in real life undergo a long and layered journey to reclaim pink from its imposed meanings. Suneha says, There is no set timeline. We cant ascertain that after a certain age, a woman will like or love pink. Each persons journey depends on how they heal themselves and also on how they heal in their relationships. This is echoed in a recent meme trend on social media, framed by the template: He healed me so much, Im starting to like pink again. But Suneha clarifies that relationships dont just mean romantic ones. Friendships, family, and their immediate inner circles also matter, she says, adding that, together, all of it makes a mark on a woman and helps her reconcile with her femininity. She believes that healing helps women to build the confidence to be vulnerable, without it seeming as a weakness. After long journeys of struggle and healing, many women share how pink has reentered their lives this time by choice. Prajakta says she has let pink sneak in everywhere, from pastel pink bedsheets, dusty rose nail polish, a bright pink kurti, to pink stationery. Akchayaa says pink found a significant place in her wedding decor, let alone her wardrobe. Ranya, meanwhile, reports that she still gets comments for wearing a pair of hot pink pants, but she wears it nevertheless, alongside a pink tote bag and pink accessories. Now every time I see the colour pink it gets me all excited and giddy and it also somehow heals the young girl in me,she says. Men and people from the queer community also confess to letting pink enter their lives now. Gangadharan recently put up pink lights in his house, but it wasnt an easy choice to make. I hate that I had to be sceptical about the decision because not everyone will approve of it, he says. Niro says choosing pink for themselves is now a bold and political statement. It can be found in their accessories, clothes, and paintings too. I think that it is only those people who are insecure about their own gender identity that put labels on who can wear something and who cannot; and it is them who continue to propagate it to the masses. I honestly just feel sorry for them because they havent explored those choices, Niro concludes. Did you know? In the pre-Victorian and early Victorian era, pink, a lighter shade of red, was seen as a strong, bold derivative, and was therefore associated with boys, while blue, linked to the Virgin Mary and seen as delicate, was suited for girls. The trend reversed in the early 20th century, especially after World War I, when gender roles were redefined and clothing norms started to standardise due to gendered consumer targeting by brands.