Pink Is the New Yellow

Just when I think that I've seen it all, something new comes along to my amazement. I have always been interested in people that find things that they don't like. Especially those that seem to go out of their way to find things they don't like, and put up a BIG stink to get it changed. No, this post is not about Cindy Sheehan (which I have gone to great lengths to avoid here in the blog), but this blog is about football. Yes, football.

Turns out that there are two law professors (Jill Gaulding and Erin Buzuvis) that have a problem with the color that the University of Iowa uses in it's visitors locker room.

The article, in short, describes how the visiting locker room in Iowa's football stadium is painted pink. It has been that way for decades. Recently, they made a few adjustments to Kinnick Stadium (to the tune of 88 million dollars), and added a few more pink amenities, sinks, tiles in the showers, a few more pink rugs, etc.

I'm all for it. The article talks about gender equality, and how having a pink locker room demeans women. WHAT? The coach that had the idea in the first place, Hayden Fry, was a psychology major in college, and chose the color because of the 'calming and passive effect on people'. How genius is that? Put them your opponents in an environment where it's harder to get jacked up. Coaching brilliance right there. So, the locker rooms have been this way for decades now, so someone needs to explain how this is demeaning to women?

One beef I have though, are the law professors that brought this up. Was she an opposing player in the locker room? No. Does she use the locker room herself? No. Which brings me to my side point that I alluded to at the start of the post. Tell me then, how is this her business?

I am amused, but at the same time angered by people that go looking for things that they disagree with. For example, I live in a town that has a shield for a city logo. On this shield are four quadrants, with each quadrant containing a symbol of the town's heritage. There's a tree, a school house, and what I believe to be some farming reference. The last quadrant has the phrase, "In God We Trust". It used to have a cross in that quadrant. But an atheist from Illinois got all upset over the cross on the city seal, and filed suit against the city.

Why do things like this get taken seriously in our society? He didn't even live here! The cross represented the fact that the first building constructed in Wauwatosa was a church. That's Tosa's history, and heritage. So some guy that never has to see the seal, because he doesn't even live here, gets to dictate that we change the seal, because he doesn't like it? It stood for decades before this guy came along, and now it has to change? And then, when we take the cross off, and replace it with, "In God We Trust" - he's okay with that. Huh? Makes my blood pressure rise just thinking about the arrogance.

Anyway, back to the pink locker room. It's been pink for decades, and now because some woman who has no affiliation with ANY football team doesn't like it, a big stink is being made. She says that it's demeaning to women. Another UofI employee, Marc Light (works in the school of library and information science), feels that 'by painting the colors of the walls pink, UofI is trying to demean opposing teams, by suggesting they are gay or women'.

"I just had a daughter (who) will turn a year old in about three weeks," Bradshaw said "We plan to be here for some time, and I would prefer she not grow up in an environment where to be a woman is something less or to be unmanly is something less."

WTF is going on here? It's a pink wall paint! The guy that came up with the idea over twenty five years ago, did it to try to stop the opposing players from becoming too excited before a game. Not one opposing coach, or player has a problem with it. In fact, I'll bet many of them wish their school would do it.

The opposition to the pink walls say that the pink color implies that the opposing players are "less manly, or have woman like qualities". They take it a step further by including the gay community, saying that the pink is degrading to women and gays. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Just wait until they find out that in many visitors locker rooms, they deliberately shut off the hot water for the out of town guests!! Oh my, get your torches people!! Get your pitchforks!!

So where does it stop? Pink is the color of choice for newborn baby girls. If I have a baby, and it's a girl, what happens if I paint the walls of my nursery pink? Am I telling her she's less manly, and possibly gay by doing that?

How 'bout light blue? What if they painted it blue? Are they being demeaning to little baby boys? Are they implying that the visiting football players are like little baby boys? Or green? Green walls would be demeaning to Irish people, saying they're not strong. Boy, somebody better stop me quick.........

So I know I shouldn't get all worked up over this, because the opinions of those UofI employees cited above don't mean anything. I just can't believe this story became newsworthy. I have some pink tile ( well, salmon colored really ) here in my bathroom. I better make sure no one from Iowa ever gets to see it, or I might be in big trouble.