Friday, April 24, 2015

Pink women's sports clothes

Just some of my Pink Collection
You know when you’re running and your mind drifts off into random thoughts? Sometimes it’s work, grocery shopping, pay the bills – this morning for me it was pink.

I suddenly realised I was dressed almost head to toe in pink; right down to my supposedly blue shoes which have a large pink streak.

How did this happen? Panic-stricken I examined my basket of sports clothes at home, and there was more pink. T-shirts, swimming goggles, socks not to mention pink stripes or splodges on most black leggins or shorts. I even found pink hand-wraps for boxing.

Now I don’t think of myself as a pink person. But as I type this I realise that maybe I am a pinkie and have just  never accepted it. Or is that the sports industry tells me I need pink to balance out all that sweat and strength?

I googled “pink women’s sports clothes” and one of the first sites to come up was linked to Victoria’s Secret. Yes, the sexy underwear company.

Then this: “should women wear pink sport?” brought up over 77m hits. Seems I am not alone in feeling conflicted about wearing pink while doing sport.

The Atlantic has an interesting piece on how pink has been co-opted by the Breast Cancer movement; in effect meaning no sport team could neutrally use pink.

The blog Fit is a Feminist Issue points out that as I discovered most women’s sports clothing has pink somewhere on it. She said: “I will not be coerced into wearing pink, even if I like the colour.”

But one Powder Room blogger on Jezebel had the most worrying finding. She writes in the US calling someone “a pink hat” means a women who has no clue about sport but goes along in search of a man. Ouch.

How much pink in your workout wardrobe? Does it bother you?


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8 comments

Sarah said...

If I were to conduct a similar survey of my running clothes, I'm afraid I would reach a similar conclusion, i.e. that I've inadvertently pinked myself out! Am I a closeted pink lover? Like you said, I rarely wear pink in anything other than athletic gear. Or is it just that there are so few other color options in women's athletic clothing? I recently went to replace a running shirt and I don't recall having many other color options. The problem for me is that I do like bright colors. They make me happy, and if I can be a running blur of a rainbow, then why not? But perhaps trying to achieve a rainbow would be a much more positive/powerful message than being all pink.

real girl sport said...

@ Sarah - it sneaks up on you I guess. I smiled when I saw your photo on your blog; also in a pink T-shirt. Bright colours are definitely better. I just clearly need to pay more attention when I'm shopping and try to go more for the rainbow look as you say rather than all-pink.

Sarah said...

Ha! After I wrote this I realized that I had just posted that picture, never mind the fact that my blog is currently pink. You're right - it does sneak up on you. It's an easy color to associate with happiness and energy, though there are plenty of other nice colors that are more gender neutral. On that note...going to find a new color palette :-)

real girl sport said...

@ Sarah - if its works, why break it? Heading out this morning in black (and pink stripes!)

Snowcatcher said...

Excellent post and research, Niahm. I've had conversations with a few breast cancer survivors who don't really care for the commercialization of pink, but like me, can't ignore the rallying support of a sea of pink at Race for a Cure. Nothing pulls you more across a finish line than knowing at a glance 10,000 people are cheering for you because they are all wearing the very same pink you are.

I have a pink (and black, gray and white) cycling jersey honoring a breast cancer victim who did not survive, and I wear it with pink socks. I've found myself looking for pink shorts a couple of times because sometimes the black shorts just don't seem like enough of a statement...

real girl sport said...

@Snowcatcher - thanks. And right there you've nailed the conflict - how can pink be bad when it's linked to doing so much good? I've seen a few Breast Cancer events where the very fact of so many women all wearing the one colour SHOUTS out their support, just as you say. Would it be as strong in green or yellow? We'll never know now I guess ...

Anonymous said...

Great blog! No pink in my sports wardrobe, but it's not a statement for me - it's just that you can't see sweat patches on black and navy.

real girl sport said...

@ J - that's true!

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