By Staff
Leada Gore, Editor
A locker room at the University of Iowa has supporters tickled pink and detractors seeing red. The disagreement centers on the colors of the walls, fixtures and just about everything else in the visitor's locker room at UI.
More than a decade ago, Former UI Coach Hayden Fry thought it was a good idea to paint the visitors' locker room a pale pink. No one seemed to pay much attention to the pastel locker room until a law professor at the school decided it was her job to whitewash the whole thing.
"Pink is regarded as the color of little girls and/or the color of effeminate men," law professor Erin Buzuvis told reporters. "The gesture is the equivalent of painting to word 'sissy' or 'girlie man…' on the wall of the locker room."
I know, I know. The whole thing is laughable and certainly nothing new. The struggle between the sexes has been going on even longer than the one between intellectual college professors and school athletic officials.
And, of course, there's the whole concept of picking our battles. It's harder for women to fight for equal wages and adequate child care when we have seemingly smart females worried about locker room decorations.
But the whole incident brings up another topic, too. We, as a nation, have become a bunch of puds, as in pudding heads. Everything seems to offend everybody nowadays and heavens forbid anyone say, do or think anything anyone else deems "offensive." We've lost the ability to focus on important issues and instead choose to focus on silly ones.
Excited about the holidays? You shouldn't be. Christmas is now considered offensive to some and therefore must be referred to as the "Winter Holiday."
Want to say the Pledge of Allegiance? Too bad. That whole "Under God" part has made it out of bounds.
And Halloween? Don't even think about that one. If you opt to celebrate Halloween you risk offending those who feel it is a pagan holiday. Celebrate too much and you risk offending the occasional witch who resents being portrayed as green with a wart on the end of her nose. (News flash: Ask a 5-year-old about Halloween and you will learn it's all about candy. That's pretty much it.)
Again, it all comes down to picking your battles and, when all else fails, practicing the time-honored trick of just ignoring someone. There's a difference between being offensive and being stupid and it's time we recognized the difference.
And as for the pink locker room? I kind of like the idea. It's a soothing color and one I've always liked. But then again, I'm a girl and you all know how we are.
Oops. I hope that statement didn't offend anyone.