Pink Aversion

My favorite color has always been green. I think perhaps because of the Green character from Rainbow Bright. I most identify with her character as I enjoy domesticating frogs and dancing in the grass in the backyard.

For some reason my mom has decorated my entire room in yellow. I'm so happy to have my own room with my first real bed that I don't really care what color it is.

My brother's room has a lot of red in it, which I find to be unsettling. He has a black-and-white TV and I think he plays games with it somehow. Since he has the old TV, I get a bookshelf in my room. I find this to be a better deal since I very much enjoy the colors and the tactile quality of the vibrant bound pages, even if I cannot yet read the words.

I heard from one of my friends that pink is the BEST color. Succumbing to group think at the age of 4, I ask my parents if I can paint the yellow border of my pin board pink. My mom tells me No, I cannot, and I learn my father has a true aversion to the color. "Pink is just a watered down shade of red," he says. I am not to associate with this color.

A fair amount of years into adulthood I realize that my father's aversion wasn't to the actual color pink. It was his feminist way of wanting me to present myself first, and not just the fact that I am female.

Pink wasn't always a color that was associated with femininity. This was an assertion that actually came about with the explosion of the advertising industry. There are historical references to other earlier uses. Pink is depicted with a collegiate association and not femininity in the Great Gatsby;

"And you found he was an Oxford man," said Jordan helpfully. "... He wears a pink suit.".

Ironically when you contrast the physical quality that pink and blue assert separate from their social significance, pink is really more of a warm powerful color while blue is a subdued and tranquil color. If we are going to assign stereotypical feminine and masculine qualities to colors, the reverse would be more logical.

I still have trouble wearing pink to this day, but it certainly has found its way into my paintings. I'm sure my dad would be proud.