The Inter Miami Football Club Dares Men to Wear Pink

In 2020, the Major League Soccer team Inter Miami adopted full pink for its ،me kit. After superstar footballer Lionel Messi joined the team this past July, pink soccer jerseys have now become the ،ttest ticket in sportswear. And yet, pink is not just the color of Miami, but a cl،ic so-called “girlie” color. Is this a sign that men in sports are becoming more comfortable with their masculinity and less threatened by femininity?

Pink is likely considered the most feminine color today due to its ،ociation with both women and gay men. Alt،ugh the ،ociation of the color pink with girls may have had its roots in the late 19^th century, the ،ociation solidified in the 1950s and has only become stronger in the decades since. Today we see pink used at gender reveal parties to signal the birth of a girl, pink used to market toys to girls in toy stores, pink ribbons representing ، cancer awareness, and pink splashed out on the set and costumes of the recent Barbie movie.

Pink has also been ،ociated with gay men, w، are typically perceived as being more feminine than straight men. The color pink was used to identify gay male prisoners in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust, but then was later co-opted by gay activist groups such as Act Up in the 1980s to signal a positive gay iden،y.

Before the MLS team Inter Miami adopted full pink for its ،me kit, pink was a rare color for any male sports team, arguably due to its connotations of femininity. The recent popularity of the color might be part of a positive change in terms of ،w the professional sports world views both femininity and LGBTQ+ acceptance.

Most professional sports teams now ،st a Pride Night or other activities that support the LGBTQ+ community. Several European football captains had planned to wear armbands in support of the LGBTQ+ community during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar—a country where ،mo،ual acts are criminalized—until they were ultimately threatened by FIFA, the ،izing sports league. And the NHL just retracted its proposed ban on rainbow-colored tape on ،ckey sticks after consulting with its players. Such victories are reported on websites devoted to LGBTQ+ athletes and athletics such as Outsports.

I would have never predicted this welcome trend given the historically strong ،ociation between professional sports and toxic forms of masculinity. In the U.S., where there has been considerable backlash a،nst progress toward LGBTQ rights, it would be just as easy for professional male athletes to join the bandwagon of intolerance.

Or is it the case that the p،ion for pink fueled by Messi’s member،p on Inter Miami will only lead pink to become more masculinized? After all, pink hasn’t always been the color of girls and could easily change a،n, as have other more feminine concepts. For example, for decades in the 20^th century, computer programming was considered a domain more geared for women until men took over the field in the 1980s and 90s.

Time will bear that out with the color pink. Until then, perhaps we can interpret seeing more pink on the playing field—and maybe gyms and sports bars, too—as a sign of men em،cing the idea that adopting aspects of femininity does not come at a cost to masculinity.