The Pink Label

From early years, we are fed cultural ideas and social standards into our system. Little girls learn that pink contributes to their femininity. Subsequently, it becomes their favorite color chosen by the social rules of gender. As kids, Barbie is presented to them as their idol and princesses as the only girls worthy of a “happily ever after”- because they are the prettiest. Society has taught the young girls that to earn love you need to be physically attractive. But on top of that, it has taught them that even that is not quite enough; every beautiful princess needs to be a Damsel in distress. She needs to be saved, by a man, that is. Impeccable beauty along with vulnerability is how the image of a feminine woman portrayed by society.

Now the young girl, who was taught to like Pink, grows into a teenager. Discovering that she does not fit into a fantasy princess, she disposes of Barbie. But as any teenager struggling to find an identity, she starts scavenging for a new idol to look up to; one which serves as guidance amidst the chaos in her world. You see, she was taught to be a dependent individual. Since she outgrew her pink dress, she now needs a new color. She has become a teenager, and she has just learned that Pink was a lie. She’s infuriated, she’s disappointed. When she was a kid, the world played a good magic trick on her and she fell for it. Damn Pink; now Black is her favorite color. Damn society; now she’s a rebel. But is she a rebel with a cause? You might ask. Well, she’s taking a stand against deceit and injustice. She doesn’t want to squeeze herself into the society’s standards of beauty anymore. She doesn’t want to be the eye candy for the boys; just a mere spectacle for them. She wants to be more than that. She wants to find her voice; that which was snatched away from her from birth. But the struggle is real. Many of the girls she knows are still lingering willingly in that Pink category; and well, many of the boys she knows are very much drawn into that category as well. She’s fighting against Pink; but the latter had engraved its roots so deep, she can’t disdain its screaming presence. Even worse, she might start to give in to it.

Now the young girl, who learned the need to get rid of Pink, grows into a young adult. Ironically, however, society asks her to get rid of Barbie anyway. Marilyn is presented to her as her substitute idol now, and Red as her new favorite color. ‘Fit into it- your new social category; make it work. Be sexually attractive; men like it. This implies that you need to alter your wardrobe. When you’re trying out an outfit, you have to ask yourself: Do I look like a ‘real woman’ in it? Wear makeup, polish those long fingernails, and do you hair nicely. You have to be perfect; men like it, so you HAVE to fit into it.’ But the young adult is still struggling to find her voice; and even if she succeeds to find it, she is not sure as to what to say. She has not owned her words yet. She doesn’t know what to add or subtract from her contradicting sets of beliefs.

The young girl, who was labeled by the ratio of her waist to her hips, grows into an adult. She has been oppressed by society for as long as she could remember. Enslaved by the judgment of the dominant sex and forced to fit into unrealistic standards and cruel perfection, she soon arrives to the realization that there is no escape from Pink. However, she has now found her voice.

The woman decides she’ll no longer represent the fairy-tale princess or the superwoman fantasy. She will dye the Pink stain, and she will paint her life with whatever colors she chooses!

-Rawia Chami