Pink pales in comparison

By Bob Elliott

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‘The Color Purple” and the color pink. They both emerged in the mid-1980s, one in the literary world and the other in Hawkeye country.

“The Color Purple,” was a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and later a movie starring Oprah Winfrey and newcomer Whoopi Goldberg.

The color pink, on the other hand, was the paint job ordered by Hayden Fry for Kinnick Stadium's visiting team locker room. It was back in the news last week as a result of two attorneys claiming the University of Iowa is leaving itself exposed to legal challenges because that locker room remains the color pink. Really!

Obviously, I'm not serious about this, but it appears the two attorneys at an April 3 news conference in Altoona were.

That pink locker room was apparently a psychological ploy by Fry to have the color perhaps diminish aggressiveness and competitive drive by players on visiting football teams. Did it really have any impact? Who knows?

Anyway, an April 4 Gazette article quoted Jill Gaulding, co-founder of Minnesota-based Gender Justice, saying UI's pink locker room is part of a growing sports movement to use “pink shaming” and “cognitive bias” to deride opponents and try to “get in their heads.”

According to The Gazette, an information sheet Gaulding and Gender Justice partner Lisa Stratton distributed at the LGBTQ conference stated: “Most people understand the pink locker room as a taunt against the other team, calling them a bunch of ladies/girls/sissies/pansies, etc.”

Anyway, the wacky news got me to thinking perhaps Fry should have taken the next step and left containers of pink lemonade and rose-colored glasses in the locker room. And maybe even copies of Gertrude Stein's famous 1913 literary reference to “A rose is a rose is a rose.” (Not to be confused, of course, with “Fifty Shades of Grey.”)

But let's assume our Gender Justice attorney friends are serious about their color concerns. If pink is psychologically devastating enough to be illegal on or near the playing field, what about other colors?

I recall marketing research that determined red is a color that prompts immediate reaction for buying now, while blue is a color better remembered for later purchases. So should red be banned for locker rooms because it encourages immediate action, or ban blue because it helps players remember assignments?

Also, if pink is to be legally banned from locker rooms, which shade of pink would that be? For instance, shades of pink include rose, fuchsia, salmon, carnation and coral. That's without even getting into broader shades such as maroon, lavender or magenta. And do you think we'd need an attorney as well as a physician if Herky got pink eye?

Somehow, I thought we had enough serious problems with things such as a Rutgers coach manhandling players, and Steve Alford jumping ship for UCLA within hours after signing a contract extension with New Mexico.

TRAFFIC CAMERAS

Controversy continues to focus on the use of automated traffic cameras already in use for Cedar Rapids streets and perhaps soon in Iowa City.

Well, I have a very simple suggestion for the people who've organized to oppose camera technology for traffic safety.

If you're driving in Cedar Rapids or Iowa City and don't want to get nailed for speeding or running a red light, then don't speed or run a red light.

Isn't that a lot less trouble than circulating petitions, organizing protest groups, promoting legislation in Des Moines, urging restrictions at local council meetings or writing letters to the editor?

l Bob Elliott of Iowa City is a former City Council member. Comments: elliottb53@aol.com