A History of Pink
The color pink has been around since man first dyed cloth - however the word itself was only described in the 16th century for a species of flower, eventually covering all lighter shades of red. Pink can come in well over a hundred shades, and can have a base color from near-purple to near-orange. The lightness comes from shading, adding white so to speak (technically white is not a color but a shade). With the use of lighter shades of reds pinks can come in a large variety, and many flowers seem to think pink is great (and usually the bees like them too - else they’d be extinct).
Pink, coming from red, was seen to be as a color that was pleasing to the eyes (and later in psychiatric treatment this became the norm in a cell for those with disturbances - we will get to that in a minute) and to be masculine, as the color red represented ‘manliness’; dating back to the Empire of Rome, and even the Republic of Rome.
Throughout history all the way until today the color and shades of red were all universally associated with men, while blue and shades of blue were more commonly associated with women. This tradition held true until the Second World War, in which the use of pink for men and blue for women became reversed - however darker reds remained masculine. In effect Blue was taken over in all its shades and form for masculinity, while reds were kept - and all lighter shades of red were given up for femininity (limiting the shades available if you want to look at it this way). From the 50’s until the 70’s it was actually expected by some that women should wear things that followed this tradition (purple was also a masculine color at the time as it was the color of Rome’s Emperor, royalty, wine, and many other associations, and maintains many today - however is falling into disuse for masculinity as well).
In the 70s with the rise of the independent movements among women came the adoption of all colors for use, however pink remains today very popular, and recently men have begun to re-adopt it in western culture, in spite of some of the negative remarks a male might receive for wearing it. In the end though, it is a color, and all colors are inherently just colors. Pink has been used on as many products as blue, green, and red. From pink cookware, like pink bread machines, pink microwaves, and many other pink products.
Now on to what was promised. Pink, much like yellow, red, or blue, or any other color, can influence and emotional response in human beings, and has been studied from products to psychiatric wards. Most commonly light shades of blue or green would be used, however it was found that by using a certain shade of pink, it could calm down an individual in distress. By placing the person in a Pepto-Bismol pink room, and letting them stay there, it has been shown in many cases to calm the individual down enough that they would be manageable later.
