Right at home. #GoBlue pic.twitter.com/LALu1eVlyd
— Michigan Equipment (@HailEquipment) November 12, 2016
When Iowa first painted their visitors locker rooms pink in the 1980’s, it’s hard to say exactly that it had some homophobic and sexist overtones, but it’s not too much of a stretch. In former Iowa head coach Hayden Fry’s 2001 book “A High Porch Picnic,” he wrote:
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One thing we didn’t paint black and gold was the stadium’s visitor’s locker room, which we painted pink. It’s a passive color, and we hoped it would put our opponents in a passive mood. Also, pink is often found in girls’ bedrooms, and because of that some consider it a sissy color.
“Sissy” and “passive”—real mature, guy. In fact, a Minnesota attorney claimed in 2014 that the locker room leaves the University exposed to the possibility of a discrimination lawsuit, saying, “it’s not OK for a public institution to potentially put out a message that people perceive to be based on a sexist or homophobic slur.”
Regardless of whether you think this falls along the lines of harmless ribbing or not-so-micro-aggression, Michigan decided to plaster the pink walls with a bunch of “Go Blue” signs and posters of their players. It’s hard to tell who’s handling things more maturely: the people who painted it pink in the first place, or the people who felt they needed to kick back against the pink locker rooms. And why does this posters idea reek of Harbaugh?
