I love pink. It is the dominant color in my wardrobe. It is the color of the walls in my dorm room, as per my request. Most of my things are in shades of pink: baby pink, hot pink, and even neon pink. Aside from girl interrupted and nanashi, pinknpurple (a shortcut of pink and purple combined) is one of my usual aliases on the net. It is even my email and my blog address. So I guess you could say that I am living in a rosy world with all the pink around me. But as hard to believe as it may be, I haven't always liked pink.

Back in grade school, I thought of it as a shallow all-too-girly color. After all, most of the girls I saw sporting pink were the popular maarte girls. The color seemed weak and submissive, definitely not me.

So what made me shift from dislike to avid likeness of the color? I discovered the story behind pink and realized that my initial impression was wrong.

The story of pink: Pink was originally a male color. As a hue of red, it was designated as a color for the military. Moreover, it was exclusive, very exclusive. It was only for high-positioned male military officers. It was not usually used by common foot-soldiers. Considering the modern times and fashion, I know that it's hard imagining the best fighters garbed in pink but that was the way it was before.

So how did pink become more associated with females when it had started out as a male color? Women had liked the color and started wearing it without caring that it was 'owned' by men, powerful men at that. Pink was portrayed to be more suitable for women because its subtlety conveyed femininity, fun, freshness, joy, and youth. With the determination of the fashionistas back then, it worked. Pink came to be known as a female color because women were able to adapt it and claim it as their own.

So pink is more than just a color. It is a symbol. It stands for gender equality since women were able to break down the rules that set down what is for girls and what is for boys. It stands for women's achievements in the fields of art, beauty, and fashion. It stands for the youthfulness and free spirit of its wearers. It is women empowerment at its best.

I hope that with my sharing of this story, people would be a little more open. Stop dismissing and generalizing girls in pink as pa-cute girly-girlies. On the other hand, I hope that the girls who like pink would appreciate it for the right reasons. I hope there would be more of this pink movement.

Think pink. Go beyond gender constructs. Express yourself. Have fun. Celebrate being a woman.