Pink locker rooms: The evil result of a sexist society?

Apparently, there is a ruckus being raised at the University of Iowa over some pink locker rooms. The visting team's locker rooms at Kinnick Stadium have been pink ever since the era of Hayden Fry (who, for all y'all non-Iowans, was a legendary coach during the 80s and 90s). They were recently remodeled, but the pink hue was maintained for all the visiting teams' viewing pleasure.

The story behind the pink? Fry claims that he decided to have the locker rooms painted pink because it is supposed to be a soothing, relaxing color. A University of Iowa law professor claims that the pink color is "a sexist and homophobic gesture." Check out the full story.

So which is it? I have no doubt that there's more to the pink color than just an innocent attempt to make the visiting football teams feel more relaxed before taking on the Hawkeyes. This is football we're talking about. It's a male-dominated sport, and I'm sure that part of the point of the pink paint is to demean the visiting teams and make them feel a little less manly as they put their pads on and get ready to go bump chests and grab each others' butts on the playing field.

On the other hand, I think it's a little ridiculous when we have to resort to nitpicking about colors, hidden meanings and secret symbols meant to convey some sort of sinister message or promote a certain cause. Jerry Falwell's assault on the innocent Teletubbie Tinkie-Winkie comes to mind as a comparable example of this.

Oh my god, that character on a children's TV show is purple and carries a bag and has a triangle on his head -- he's clearly trying to promote a "gay agenda" and probably beaming out gay germs through the TV that are infecting our children! Oh my god, a football team painted their opponents' locker room pink -- they're clearly trying to promote a homophobic, sexist message.

I'm definitely a feminist, but I believe there is such a thing as overreacting, and the pink locker room vendetta is a definite overreaction.