Pink: Power & Prejudice

The mere notion that this colour is associated with girls have made many look for other shades to love. But now, women are embracing their love for pink

- NIDHARSHANA RAJU

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 didn't.

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 Pandora's 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 didn't want to be seen as 'too girly' or 'uncool'.