Dan Schawbel - Gen Y Expert RSS feed: Personal Brand Stereotypes #3: The Curse of the

[David Sandusky]

My RSS Feed is a Thinker and blog is #1 for online personal brand thoughts. Dan Schawbel is Gen Y and geared to Gen Y personal brand, but you will benefit regardless of generation. He has Just Posted the Following:


For all of you who are new to this series, my first post was about tall individuals are immediately called basketball players and my second post was about how glasses make you look smart. Today , I wanted to examine the curse of the pink shirt.* Of course women can freely wear pink shirts, but when it comes to men, do you really consider them homosexuals just for putting one on?
In 2005, it was “okay” for men to wear pink in our culture. Some people are still aggressive and irritated by men who wear pink and feel they deserve to get kicked in the teeth. This discussion has surfaced on occasion and then goes back into hibernation for another generation to comment on. Just like the last post, I even found a Yahoo! Answers dialog boasting the question “Does a pink shirt on guys indicate or symbolize them as gay”?
Here are some responses:

• “Guys wearing pink shirts look gay. no matter how straight they say they are, its gay. lol when gangsters and thugs wear pink im just like wow, i didnt know they were gay.. its a gay thing, thats how straight ppl let a little gay into their lives.” (Man)
• “Guys wearing pink shirts look gay. no matter how straight they say they are, its gay. lol when gangsters and thugs wear pink im just like wow, i didnt know they were gay.. its a gay thing, thats how straight ppl let a little gay into their lives.” (Man)
• “I personally think a pink shirt on a straight guy is nothing more than proof that he is secure in his own sexuality.”(Woman)
• “Yeah, as much as a girl wearing blue says she’s a lesbian…..The color of the clothes people wear mean nothing about their sexuality.” (Woman)

Analysis
Who is surprised that men think it’s gay, while women think it’s normal? I’m not at all. I actually never wore pink until I graduated from college. My roommate wore pink all the time and girls actually liked it. I think it worked well for him because no other guy was wearing it, so it became a differentiator of sorts. The majority of girls list pink as their favorite color and guys tend to pick blue. When a guy wears a pink shirt, girls will like it, but question their sexuality at first, even if they don’t do it intentionally. I think it’s a lot about the attitude you convey when you’re wearing the pink shirt. If you are acting “manly” and confident, I think the pink shirt might even work in your favor. On new years I wore a pink shirt and the first comment I received was “you have guts..I like that” from a girl.* If you take a step back and think, why do people make such a big deal over a shirt?* If you met a man wearing a pink shirt, would you ignore him or make fun of him?
Coming up next
In the 3rd part of this series I will go over “The Hippie Phenomenon.” When you look at someone with a tye-die shirt, a scruffy beard and a collection of Grateful Dead CD’s, I think you would consider them a hippie.* I will examine how this idea was born and the effect on these individuals over time.




click here to read more from and support Dan Schawbel