Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Breast Cancer Survivors Now Own the Color Pink

Gilda · 04-08-2005, 07:41 AM

For generations, coaches, PE teachers, drill sargents and other men in positions of authority over young men, have been calling those young men who don't measure up "girls" and "ladies" as a form of insult, a way of saying they're not as good as the others. It ties into two perceptions about the sexes in our culture. The first is that women are inferior to men in athletics and certain other endeavors of a physical nature. This is on average, true; the typical adolescent and adult male has physical advantages over the typical female in sports, and the top males outperform the top females in nearly all types of athletic competition (with the notable exception of ultra long distance swimming, where women dominate).

Boys who cry or show too much soft emotion after a certain age are also belittled by referring to them in a feminine way. Sometimes, it's overt, as in calling a boy a little girl. Mostly though, it comes in a slightly more subtle way. What do we call a boy who cries easily when hurt? A "sissy", which is a variant form of the word "sister". Sometimes a girl's name is used overtly, as in calling a boy a "Nancy". In other words, an inadequate boy is the same as a girl. Again, there is some basis in reality for this assertion. Girls are more free to cry or express joy in public than are boys, so labeling a boy in this way is, at least on a denotative level, somewhat accurate.

However, these ways of labeling boys aren't value neutral. Each carries with it the implication that girls are inferior to boys in a general way, that the macho way of doing things isn't just different from a feminine way, but inherently better.

Putting pink jersies on the lazy players, the slackers, is a not too subtle variant form of calling an inadequate boy a girl, and by doing this, they're implying that girls are lazy. That's the only part of this that I find offensive. The idea that anything pink automatically is a reference to pink ribbons and thus, breast cancer is reaching a bit far. It would make as much sense to say that the pink represented a pink triangle, ie, none. The pink jersies clearly mean "female" in this case, which is mildly offensive, but, I think, harmless.

04-08-2005, 07:41 AM	#25 (permalink)
Gilda 32 flavors and then some Location: Out on a wire.	For generations, coaches, PE teachers, drill sargents and other men in positions of authority over young men, have been calling those young men who don't measure up "girls" and "ladies" as a form of insult, a way of saying they're not as good as the others. It ties into two perceptions about the sexes in our culture. The first is that women are inferior to men in athletics and certain other endeavors of a physical nature. This is on average, true; the typical adolescent and adult male has physical advantages over the typical female in sports, and the top males outperform the top females in nearly all types of athletic competition (with the notable exception of ultra long distance swimming, where women dominate). Boys who cry or show too much soft emotion after a certain age are also belittled by referring to them in a feminine way. Sometimes, it's overt, as in calling a boy a little girl. Mostly though, it comes in a slightly more subtle way. What do we call a boy who cries easily when hurt? A "sissy", which is a variant form of the word "sister". Sometimes a girl's name is used overtly, as in calling a boy a "Nancy". In other words, an inadequate boy is the same as a girl. Again, there is some basis in reality for this assertion. Girls are more free to cry or express joy in public than are boys, so labeling a boy in this way is, at least on a denotative level, somewhat accurate. However, these ways of labeling boys aren't value neutral. Each carries with it the implication that girls are inferior to boys in a general way, that the macho way of doing things isn't just different from a feminine way, but inherently better. Putting pink jersies on the lazy players, the slackers, is a not too subtle variant form of calling an inadequate boy a girl, and by doing this, they're implying that girls are lazy. That's the only part of this that I find offensive. The idea that anything pink automatically is a reference to pink ribbons and thus, breast cancer is reaching a bit far. It would make as much sense to say that the pink represented a pink triangle, ie, none. The pink jersies clearly mean "female" in this case, which is mildly offensive, but, I think, harmless.