A quick study in Pink honors the April Full moon, pink Spring flowers, the woman’s experience, and my next read: the Sherlock series.

Read more: A Study in Pink: the April Full Moon

The April full moon is called the Pink moon because of this time frame’s blossoming of the many-named plant; the phlox subulata, creeping phlox, moss phlox, most commonly referred to as “moss pink.”

When I decided to have some fun taking photos of all the pink things in the house, Pete showed me all the pink things outside the house! So, I’ll give you my list of pink items but match them with the beautiful flower of the Swamp House. I am hoping this post will instigate an argument about how “THE DARKER AZALEAS AREN’T PINK!”

I also thought of the Sherlock show’s pilot, A Study in Pink. And since I just finished a book and needed inspiration for my next read, it just seemed like aligned stars. (Not so catchy as “stars aligned,” huh?)

A Study in Pink

• Piggy bank
• Fanny pack
• Earrings
• Soap holder
• Worm t-shirts
• Ruler
• Agatha
• Flowers
• Old mango bowl
• Paper lanterns
• Socks
• Hair tie
• Make up brushes
• Leotard
• Big Pig Petey

@absgeller

#pink #fullmoon #pinkmoon #azaleas #feminism #dogwood #pinkflowers

♬ original sound – Andrea Santolim Geller

Reclaiming my Pink

Ugh, I wasn’t gonna, but let’s talk about my internalized misogynistic aversion to the color pink.

Baby Pink

As a little one, I had plenty of “tomboy” qualities about me. I wasn’t prissy, wasn’t afraid to get dirty, liked playing sports… but I was also put in ballet. And when I say “put in,” I don’t mean I didn’t like it, I mean all the girls in the (then-very small) town we lived in did ballet, at the same studio, with the same instructor.

I was the best. At least, that’s how I remember it. I have memories of performing the leading roles of two dance combinations. I can still do a pretty good back bend for someone who doesn’t practice any kind of bending anymore.

Our default ballet uniforms were the classic baby pink leotards.

Below: Azaleas.

Dora Pink

Being a latina immigrant who spoke very little English (and equally little Spanish, but bullies don’t know or care about that), I got called Dora for years. Even my friends would tease me. Well, I was chubby, had a chanel-style haircut (I wanted to look like my grandmother), and often wore bermuda sweats. I even had a pink shirt in the same shade of pink – a bubblegum pink, I’d say. But at this point I didn’t associate societal discrimination and misogyny and stereotyping with pink… not yet.

Below: Azaleas.

Hello Kitty Pink

When we got our first house in the US, my parents set me up a Hello Kitty bedroom. I had a white four post bed with sheer curtains and Hello Kitty bedsheets. This pink was true pink, not quite fuchsia but no longer baby.

That bedroom stayed that way well into my teens, and I grew to resent it. That’s how I started to dislike the color pink.

Below: Dogwood tree.

P!nk

Neither of my parents ever raised me on blatant comments like “ladies should be like…” and “girls should wear…” so, it wasn’t until the rest of society started telling me do’s and don’t’s of being a girl that I started to question my pinks. From sixth to seventh grade, I went from being Dora the Explorer to being Sam Manson from Danny Phantom. I decided that I hated pink. I wore neon greens and purples, black-and-whites, but no pinks. Yes, I had rubber bracelets that said “NEVERSHOUTNEVER” and “rawr :3” and watched DIY videos on how to tease your hair.

I remember liking Pink, the artist, and thinking that pink, the color, was reserved for the public figures and celebrities and politicians who represented feminism and wore pink in purely rebellious and ironic ways.

Below: Azaleas.

Inescapable Pink

High school was the time period I downright refused to wear pink… but I couldn’t get away from it! Being a female, everyone buys you pink things. My grandmother, my mom, mom’s friends – dresses, shirts, purses, jewelry.

It’s just funny ’cause when I buy anyone anything, the color choice is super important in my thought process. I’ll never buy anyone bold colors unless I know for a fact that that’s a color they like. Personally, I recommend people stick to neutrals for most gifts – blacks, greys, off-whites, tans, and browns.

Is Burgundy a Pink?

In my senior year of high school, I wore a burgundy jumpsuit to prom. Black dresses with sequins were in style, but since Weaver was pretty queer, plenty of girls wore actual suits, too. I felt like a bad b*tch for wearing a jumpsuit, but retaining my femininity by not wearing a suit. And the fact that it was burgundy? A wine red? I thought it screamed: “MATURE, COOL, YOUNG WOMAN!”

Ever since then my obsession with burgundy has only grown, I stuck to the dark burgundy at first, but began to explore the muted burgundy’s, the greyed out burgundy’s, and then finally… the pastel burgundy’s. Suddenly, I liked the “vintage pink,” look. The “rose” pink, you know? And then I realized I liked pink again.

Below: Azaleas.

A Woman in Pink

I won’t go on about how rediscovering my appreciation for pink parallels my death and rebirth associated with secretly hating women for years due to the imposition by society that women are supposed to compete using false beauty standards… I won’t. Rather, I’ll tell you this: many women I’ve chatted with about this have expressed that they, too, experienced a love-hate-and-love-again relationship with pink over their lifetime.

One woman has a pink dress she’s refused to wear but refused to toss for decades. Another collects pink lipsticks but only ever wears her reds. Another paints her nails and ends up peeling the polish, but only when they’re pink. Pink pink pink. Why, oh why, were you used against us?