Thank you Title IX! Target has come out with a line of
pink sporting goods like mitts, volleyballs, and basketballs. Presumably these are designed for girls, or boys who are comfortable enough with themselves to adopt a rosier approach to athleticism.
On first glance, it might be tempting to hate on this stuff as going with the stereotype. Why do girls get everything marketed to them as princess pink fairy lacy frou frou? But I look at this equipment, and I see a nice revolution. If a girl is in the oh-so-common pink phase, she might like having a ball that appeals to her color love, and therefore be more into
trying a sport. And my long range hope is that with more and more girls participating in athletic endeavors, we'll see some serious improvements in the current palette of black-red-orange-forest green-white-gold that dominates most sports. Where's the lavender? The bronze? The aquamarine? The sky blue? (Note: don't send me examples of pro sports teams that use these colors, because they are the exception rather than the norm.) Maybe we'll start seeing some uniforms that aren't an ugly blend of two colors that shouldn't go together. Down with man colors!
Grrrl power!Besides, being a feminist athlete doesn't mean you can't accessorize well or wear something bright. Tennis has had well-known women players for ages, and even though white ruled the sport for a long time, I love some of the
newer ensembles. And when we bought this pink mitt for my daughter's T-ball season, it was a big hit on the field. Kids begged for a chance to use it. Interestingly, some of the boys did refuse to borrow it even though they had forgotten their own mitts and would have to catch bare-handed. Time to come around, young sons, and get comfortable with "girl" colors. You'll be seeing a lot more of us with our hot pink and lavender mitts on the field in the future.
