Not just a colour

Pink as a gender and sexuality marker in visual communication

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12700596
AutoresFrazer Heritage (0000-0003-1257-1890, Lancaster University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2008
Volumen7
Número4
Páginas395-423
Fecha de publicación2008-10-30
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaVisual Communication (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1470-3572 • E-ISSN: 1741-3214
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1470357208096209
OpenAlexW2171829690
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas70
Referencias citadas24

This article investigates the functions of the colour pink as a marker of gender and sexuality in cultural models and the multimodal texts they inform. To this end, tendencies suggested by a pilot survey on colour associations are traced in a number of visual texts such as leaflets, advertisements, websites and magazines, where pink functions to gender textual referents, attract female readers' attention and index both sexuality and sexual identity. Both informants' associations and the multimodal text analysis show evidence of an emergent schema that relates pink to post-feminist femininity. This is seen as complementing and extending conventional and counter-cultural associations of pink with stereotypically feminine characteristics or gayness, respectively. Ultimately, the author argues for an approach to colour that combines social semiotics with cognitive semantics

Femininity · Human sexuality · Linguistics · Schema (genetic algorithms · Semiotics · Sociology · Categorization, perception, and language · Color perception and design · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Multisensory perception and integration · Psychology · Social Psychology