Mister Pink...

So... in my previous post in answer to 'question 6. Favourite Colour', I said that I wear pink when my masculine energy comes to the fore. And that pink was originally for boys.  Blue was considered soft, soothing, calming, dainty therefore it was feminine. [yeah i know. gag me.] 

Pink was assertive, strong, robust so therefore it was a masculine colour.  Pink is a derivative of red and red is the colour of blood and the colour of splattering blood is a pink mist... so through war and aggression, pink was thought of as a victor's colour.  The colour of a commander.

The outfit I wore today* pretty much exemplifies the whole pink as masculine energy thing.  Batwoman t-shirt with pink logo, armour/artillery belt, studded ankle boots... I wasn't fighting any wars but I was going batty battling lethargy today J so hmmm... my psyche dressed me... more info after the jump...

This is another long post.  You don't have to read it but I think I've written some interesting facts and information so if you've got some time to spare...

Firstly some background on pink... it's a shade between red and violet [Magenta] and it actually doesn't exist in the spectrum... our brains make it exist because our brains need to 'bridge gaps'! 

The light spectrum consists of a range of wavelengths of "electromagnetic radiation". Red has the longest, violet the shortest and the colours in between (orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo) have wavelengths in between the two. When our eyes see colours, it's because our brains are 'feeling' the different wavelengths 'hitting' the retina.  The brain then processes this information and produces the visual display that we experience as colour.  Cool huh?

Our brains 'create' magenta because green needs a complementary opposite.  If the spectrum was laid out in a circle, then red is opposite to blue, orange to indigo and yellow to violet.  Poor green is lonely!! Without a partner... and there is a gap in the spectrum circle, between violet and red. Our brains need to bridge the gap, close the circle, make a connection...et voila... pink.

Look... this is all quite simplified... I could go on and on but I won't because we don't have all year.  Plus I'm supposed to be explaining why pink was originally for guys.  Think I've done that...now need to cover why that all changed and why I wear pink when I want to kick some ass.  Metaphorically speaking of course. 

I'm usually wearing this when I physically kick some ass... J...anyyy.wayyy... dreams are free...

I'm not happy about all the reasons why pink was the colour for men because we now know of course that women have always been strong, have always been thought of as strong and quite possible at times, revered as being the stronger sex.  I'm not one for Battle of the Sexes bulls**t okay?  Men are men, women are women.  Vive le diffrence.  BUT... our history is missing so much crucial application of knowledge regarding the Divine Feminine Energy that it pains me to even write that it's missing. 

The practise of modern Hinduism too forgets that without Shaktism there is no Divinity. 

I wear pink when I need to assert a balance of my feminine and masculine energy. 

Note... NOT 'baby pink' or soft pinks.  I very rarely wear those anyway.  Mark these words J, you'll understand why soon...

The colour gender switch reason is a harder fact to find.  Apparently war -the very reason pink was originally considered a man's colour- was the cause in the western world.  And... this is all quite recent!  As in early twentieth century!  Prior to that there are quite a few bits of information that state that pink was the colour for boys and blue for girls.  Seemingly in quite a few cultures.

During World War 2 (1939-1945) the Nazis used a complex colour and shape code system to keep track of their prisoners, all different groups, indentified by their coloured shapes.  The best known being Jews given a yellow Star of David to wear, to identify them.

Homosexuals were given a pink inverted triangle (which is also half a star of David).  Please remember that pink would have been considered a masculine colour around this time.  My reckoning is that they were 'assigned' pink because it is a watered down red... therefore... a watered down male.  However, it is also said that the Nazis used pink to code homosexuals because pink was already associated with feminine because of the inner colour of a woman's genitals.

The pink triangle is the most popular theory as to why pink then became associated with being feminine.

I have read that the use of navy blue for men’s dress uniforms during both the First and Second World Wars may have led more people to associate blue with soldiers and thus with masculinity.  I can't find any information to back this up.  Why blue uniforms?  Perhaps the material was cheap?

Another theory stated that religion played its hand... Catholic traditions in Europe preferred blue for girls because of the strong association of blue with the Virgin Mary... however the shade of blue that is typically associated with her didn't actually exist around that time but why let the facts get in the way of a good story.

The blue was symbolic as being under the protection of God.

Blue has long been considered 'special' and indicative of higher power... the Hindu Supreme God Vishnu is depicted with blue skin. The colour blue symbolises the infinite space of the blue sky and the blue ocean.  All encompassing. 

In Ancient Greece blue eyes were believed to protect against evil and boys were considered good luck.  So a blue eyed baby boy was the schizz.  Whatever.  Hera could still kick Zeus' ass anyday.  Why else was the big philandering fool forever changing his lovers in to cows?  He was full of bull... and a coward.

Anyway blue-eyed or not, baby boys were swathed in blue to ward off bad luck.  Blue was the colour of the sky where the Gods lived. 

Coming back down to earth, in Ancient China, red dye was fairly cheap and plentiful but blue dye was much more expensive and rare.  It was considered 'the done thing' to dress a son in blue because he would bring a dowry to the family when he married so he was worth it.  I can see the L'Oreal ad now.

So there are many reasons really but the pink triangle is still credited with being the main reason as to why pink became the colour of femininity.

From the 1940's onward, pink was pushed as a woman's color.  In the US, "Think Pink" was the marketing slogan to convince women to "embrace their femininity".  Perhaps this was a backlash to all the dull, drab shades during war time and pink -SUBCONCIOUSLY- became a unisex colour of love and a concious colour of sexuality disguised as good health!
...think about it... all that pink and reddish tones on lips and cheeks... it's to enhance the rush of colour to the epidermis when aroused.  Arousal sends off pheromones that blare "healthy reproductive female in the region, healthy reproductive female in the region!!"

Perpuating the population.

Still though... pink is naturally attractive to women.  It's a calming colour for us but I believe it's a balancing colour.  However, like with all colours too much of one can have detrimental effects. 

A certain type of pink is used in prisons to calm aggressive prisoners.  Hmm.  I think that what it does is neutralise errant masculine energy in men BUT... it has also been proven that when the male prisoners become accustomed to the pink, they become more agitated by it.

Now... pink saturation... I'm still thinking about why the soft pinks attract 'softer' women and hot pinks attract the stereotype, the Barbies, the Playboy bunnies, the Elle Woods... this could simply be nurture.  We are led to believe that pink is super girly so being drenched in pink will 'echo' the super feminine personality.  Again, excess in moderation is the way to go... by nurture we know that all shades of pink represent different aspects of femininity... the little girl, the burgeoning young woman, the woman... by nature we know pink represents internal balance.
I have written before that pink is the colour of universal love.  Really because it is the colour of UNISEX love... combined forces love... a balanced love... a love that is equal feminine and masculine energy... makes sense doesn't it?

Men, particularly in the western world, may no longer feel comfortable asserting their masculinity by wearing pink but women need to wear more pink to tap in to their masculine energy.  Plus in order to break gender stereotyping, we need to own and mold

I have always loved pink but then I have always been aware that I have strong masculine energy.  For me that simply means... I have always been in touch with my feminine side. 

Your thoughts?  How do you feel about pink?

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*yes... a very backdated post!  Written on Saturday Dec 3rd!  But I only post what i wear on the day I wore it.  Also realised that I never post "just wearing jeans days"!  Quite a few of them, I'm not really a jeans woman... having said that I have MANY pairs!  The ones I don't wear