The University of Iowa’s football stadium gained national media attention this week – not because of a fantastic feat on the gridiron but because of the pink color of its visitors’ locker room.
A recent $88 million remodel of Kinnick Stadium included painting the walls and lockers “Innocence,” painting the urinals “Dusty Rose” and laying pink carpet. The renovation continued a tradition started by former head football coach Hayden Fry, a psychology major who decorated the room pink.
Erin Buzuvis, an adjunct law professor at the school, ignited the controversy, calling the locker rooms “sexist and homophobic” on her blog.
She argues that “putting your opponent in a pink locker room is saying ‘you are weak like a girl’ or ‘you are weak like a gay man,’” citing a Wikipedia entry that states pink is “now associated with womanhood.”
Her arguments are a clear-cut case of political correctness gone too far.
Many media stories report Fry chose pink because it has a calming psychological effect on opponents, making them less effective on the field.
If this is true, Buzuvis’ outcry seems trivial. And in today’s world of collegiate athletics, when some teams have two-story locker rooms with special lighting that simulates outdoor weather conditions, a little off-the-field advantage can’t hurt.
Buzuvis cites Fry’s 1999 biography, “Hayden Fry: A High Porch Picnic,” as saying he chose the color because “pink is often found in girl’s bedrooms, and because of that some consider it a sissy color.”
What she doesn’t include is the context of his quote, as reported by the Press-Citizen (Iowa City):
“Also, pink is often found in girls’ bedrooms, and because of that some consider it a sissy color. It’s been fun to get the reaction of visiting coaches to the color of their locker room. Most don’t notice it, but those that do are in trouble.”
So much for academic integrity. It seems that Fry did have some psychological theories in mind and that he wasn’t primarily motivated by chauvinist tendencies after all.
Buzuvis isn’t entirely off-base in her assertion that the school should not continue a tradition started to discomfort opposing players by perpetuating negative stereotypes.
But how negative are these stereotypes? If pink is so demeaning, why didn’t anyone vocally complain about the color during the 20-some years it has adorned the locker room? If it makes women seem like little girls, why do women still wear pink?
Buzuvis also glosses over the point that pink is becoming more commonly accepted for men, suggesting it hasn’t been truly “reclaimed” – has she been to Gap lately?
Yet, in all honesty, many men would probably still perceive a pink locker room as an insult. And if they see it as an insult, their reaction is indicative of a larger societal problem – that the quality of femininity is seen as a weak or negative trait. Repainting the locker room won’t erase this stigma. If anything, it will compound the problem.
The Hawkeye football squad isn’t the group that should be laughing over its long-standing pink joke. Opposing players who are rattled by this foolish, out-dated stereotype should have a good, hard laugh at themselves.