What does it mean if someone asks if it’s pink?
09.06.2025 03:30
Posted by: Charlene Silvernail - Former Revenue Cycle Director at B.E. Smith Agency (2018–2021)
With Metta,
What does the question "is it pink" mean? My students keep asking me it.
The answers reveal that "Is it pink?" is a controversial trend originating from social media, particularly TikTok. While some responses suggest benign interpretations, most indicate that the phrase has sexually explicit connotations, making it inappropriate for classroom discussion.
Read more (see No. 2 below)
But even they would be shocked to learn the real meaning of a phrase as ubiquitous on TikTok as teens are themselves; casual teen sexual harassment. There are scores of kids, oftentimes boys, speculating about the exact color hex codes of their fellow TikTokers' genitals. For the unacquainted, here's what "bubblegum pink" comments on TikTok mean.
Thanks for A2A,
I remember that as a house officer, I once wore a pink shirt in the early ‘70s and the consultant surgeon gave me a bemused look. Call me chicken, but I didn’t repeat that dress ensemble. In various ways, pink became associated with even protest and awareness of LBGT and Pink triangles, once used by the Nazis to target homosexuals became a symbol of gay activism. However even in the fight against breast cancer, a pink ribbon was used as a symbol. I guess it’s symbolic of the way society tends to embrace different values and use colours to identify with it.
The comments section of any given person on TikTok, especially if they are a pretty young woman, is riddled with variations on the phrase; I know it's pink, "I bet it's bubblegum pink," I know it's grippy, It's definitely #FF94A4. For the unassuming older adult, not jaded by an adolescence spent chronically online, these comments may be as cryptic and insignificant as any popular slang wielded by 15-year-olds online.
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No.1
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In western nations, a few centuries ago, both men and women were comfortable enough in faintly pink costumes as a symbol of luxury and class and there wasn’t a particular appropriation of the colour as a ‘girly colour’. Only by the 1800s was there some sort of dichotomy of fashion whereby men had a tendency towards more darker and sober colours.
Seems to me that social media has created quite a lot of new attributions to the colour ‘pink’. And the way society evolves often changes over the years at various times perceiving this colour as a colour in transition – sometimes feminine, perhaps sophisticated, even erotic and maybe even kitsch (in poor taste).
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• "Seems to me that social media has created quite a lot of new attributions to the colour 'pink'."
Why do I sweat so much after applying moisture or sun screen on my face? I have normal skin.
•"I have learned that they are referring to a popular and very [spoiled] tiktok and youtube influencer that loves everything to be pink"
Posted by: Kokwai Thong - Retired Medical Professional, Anti Nuclear Peace activist
The other aspect about pink is its erotic connotations and its hint of nudity and sexual allure, and by and by, pink went from luxury to working class and from sophisticated to vulgar! But then in the 1950s, Elvis had a Cadillac in shocking pink. Perhaps somewhat frivolous. And then the Barbie dolls came along in all shades of pink. The Japanese seem to use pink in their cosplay as some sort of cute femininity.
I looked this up for you….although, I’m sure you could have looked it up OR even knew the meaning already!
• "The comments section of any given person on TikTok, especially if they are a pretty young woman, is riddled with variations on the phrase; I know it's pink"
Feminists may often assign to the colour a certain powerful, socio-political stance as in being cool, or hip or androgynous (having the characteristics of both sexes).
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Courtesy: Quora-Answer Highlights
Is it pink?
Read more (see No.1 below)
No. 2