This week, J.Crew sent an email heard around the world. Usually a look into her favorite products and personal moments, this time the company's president and creative director, Jenna Lyons, showed her with her son, Beckett—and his bright pink Essie pedicure. The caption read, "Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon." Cue hysterical conservative pundits! Erin Brown from the Media Research Center, called it "blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children" that could "make life hard for the boy in the future." On Fox News, psychiatrist Keith Ablow described it as "a dramatic example of the way that our culture is being encouraged to abandon all trappings of gender identity."

Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is. Attention Keith Ablow: those "trappings of gender identity" change—just think of the rage people felt over the Beatles' girly mop tops. These days, lots of successful, straight men feel free to do things previous relegated as "women-only": Use hair products galore (Ryan Seacrest), wear sarongs and headbands (David Beckham), or even--gasp--paint their nails (Zac Efron, who wore teal to the 2010 Teen Choice Awards). Maybe more than making a gender identity statement, Beckett is doing what he feels like with that time-stamped childhood innocence, yet to be shamed by judgmental schmucks. Or maybe he's just trying to imitate famous kids his age—after all, Gwen Stefani's son Kingston Rossdale has been getting professional mani-pedis since age four, and Jennifer Lopez paints her three-year-old's son's nails.

If the big deal, then, is not about the pedicure but about the color, critics should know that pink as an indicator of femininity is arbitrary—and a fairly new construct. In 1918, Ladies' Home Journal noted: "The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." The pink-blue switcheroo didn't happen until the 1940s—and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if pink was due for another identity-change.

What do you think—is it okay for boys like Beckett to have pink nails?



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