Color Coded Women…

In today’s television media there is a system in place for binary structures just as in the real world. Depicted are men and women, masculine and feminine, white and black. Rarely do we see a character that shows both traits, the gray area. Although, one example according to Russo (2009) is Detective Benson from Law and Order SVU, “Her uniform includes t-shirts, sweaters, slacks and sensible shoes-no heels, no frills, and little jewelry except for what appears to be a man’s watch.” The color choice of wardrobe is primarily blues, browns and black. According to Kress and Van Leeuwen (2002) who I believe is relevant to my post, have theorized:

“The color switch happened because around WWII Nazis marked homosexual men with a pink triangle and so pink became associated with being “anti-masculine” and “effeminate.” In order to maintain strong masculine color coding and education blue previously girlie (think Virgin Mary) colors were traded for pink colors. Parents raised their children with colors according to the connotations that those colors held. Once pink became feminized – it was no longer suitable for categorizing masculine boys.”

Our culture has certain signs and codes which are indications of gender. Pink and Blue are known to mean a boy or a girl, masculine or feminine. How did that come about and who decided these two colors would be put in place for universal acknowledgement? As one blogger posted:

“The color switch happened because around WWII Nazis marked homosexual men with a pink triangle and so pink became associated with being “anti-masculine” and “effeminate.” In order to maintain strong masculine color coding and education blue previously girlie (think Virgin Mary) colors were traded for pink colors. Parents raised their children with colors according to the connotations that those colors held. Once pink became feminized – it was no longer suitable for categorizing masculine boys”

Ok, so we know about the beginning of color matching to gender but what about today? The color women adorn are based stereotypes. Or are they? As reported by Hamad (2010), “The 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives, beleaguered husband Walter Kresby (Matthew Broderick), in an attempt to assert masculine authority, tells his wife Joanna Eberhart (Nicole Kidman), that from now on, he wants her to wear “no more black,” because “only high-powered, neurotic, castrating, Manhattan career bitches wear black.”

Other programs such as Mistresses (BBC, 2008-present), and reality T.V. shows like Real Housewives of Orange County (Bravo, 2006-present) and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? (BBC, 2006) all seem to color code women (Hamad, 2010). Why separate these women? To show their individuality while according to Hamad (2010), “…ensuring that individuality does not transcend the postfeminist archetype being articulated by the women’s group identity.”

It seems like color coding could be a way of identity management rather than stereotypes. As you can see this is a complex issue. What do you think?

References

Hannah Hamad, H. (2010). Postfeminist Primary Colors: Coding Femininities in Media Culture. Retrieved December 16, 2011, from http://flowtv.org/2010/04/postfeminist-primary-colors-coding-femininities-in-media-culturehannah-hamad-massey-university/#footnote_4_4912

Maglaty, J. (2011). When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink?. Retrieved December 16, 2011, from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html#ixzz1gi7brB1g

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