Can A Man Use Yama Budo?

[kronos77]

 

That is incorrect. In the English language, "sex" is biological, and "gender" is a cultural construct that governs expectations and behavior of the people of each sex.*

 

"Gender" is also used as a linguistic term, but if you're comparing sex to gender, that definition is barely relevant.

 

 

*Except in the case of transsexual people, but that's a whole 'nother ball of wax.

No. The incorrect use of the term gender has been forced on us by people who don't know better.

[Pengrump]

I sent a bottle of yama-budo as a gift to a male friend who had admired it at a pen show. He then diluted it with some sort of blue ink that turned it into a pinkish gray, to my eye quite ugly, color. He told me that though he'd liked the color at the show, it was too feminine for him to use in his letters. I think he meant that it was too bright. It's a bit sad for anyone to limit himself to dull colors because he thinks bright ones are too feminine. If you like a color, use it.

[Fabienne]

I find puce to be a dashingly masculine color.

[amberleadavis]

I find the name "puce" to be not dashing, but the color is smashing.

[GabrielleDuVent]

'Tis a colour after bashing, or a bruise made after crashing. :S

 

I'm going to stop before I make this into Edward Lear.

[Vendome]

If you're worried about using a particular colour of ink, just the sign the letter with a pen name.

[de_pen_dent]

I sent a bottle of yama-budo as a gift to a male friend who had admired it at a pen show. He then diluted it with some sort of blue ink that turned it into a pinkish gray, to my eye quite ugly, color. He told me that though he'd liked the color at the show, it was too feminine for him to use in his letters. I think he meant that it was too bright. It's a bit sad for anyone to limit himself to dull colors because he thinks bright ones are too feminine. If you like a color, use it.

 

[Am quoting the above post but my response is a little more general than just to Pengrump]

 

Jokes apart, why is it so hard to accept that many men simply may not like this colour? Much as our modern, PC world would like to pretend otherwise, there *are* differences between men and women in terms of aesthetic preferences.

 

But the idea that some guys might find this to be "too pink" has led to a gamut of responses ranging from "dont let others dictate what you write with" to "it is sad" to "get your eyes checked" - but I've yet to see "if you dont like it, dont write with it".

 

I find Yama Budo to be approaching what I perceive as "teenage girl pink". If someone else likes it, good for them, but I don't. I see no reason to apologize or make excuses for my preferences, or to get my eyesight checked, or whatever.

 

It's just an ink, not a proxy for anything more profound.

Edited June 16, 2013 by de_pen_dent

[Rugrat]

I love Yama Budo. My bottle was a Christmas gift from my 10 year old daughter who saved up $30 to buy it for me. I am a man and use it frequently. I look at it this way:

 

 

If NFL players can wear pink. I certainly can use pink ink. These guys are some of the most manly men in the world!

 

Regards,

Eric

 

 

 

[Vendome]

NFL manly men lol Rugby players don't need to wear padding or helmets.

[GabrielleDuVent]

NFL manly men lol Rugby players don't need to wear padding or helmets.

 

I am not going near this topic with a ten metre stick.

 

With that clarified, I'd like to ask THIS: hardly anyone notices what pen we are using. Almost no one notices whether you sign in brown or blue. Clearly no one (but yourself) cares what you write with as long as you write your name (or what amounts to be your name) on the dotted line, so does it really matter if one signs in bubblegum pink, as long as it's legible? There are pseudo-legal implications to not using blue or black, but clearly this is not the issue here, since the discussion is about an ink named "mountain grapes".

 

This is starting to get a little too self-conscious, methinks.

[de_pen_dent]

^^ By the same token, does it matter if you DONT want to sign your name or write in bubblegum pink?

 

It's a very one-sided thing. No one cares if you use pink. But everyone seems to care if you actually dare to say you dont want to use pink.

 

It's almost as if there is some kind of reverse machismo thing going on here, with all sorts of justifications why it is ok for men to use pink.

Edited June 16, 2013 by de_pen_dent

[GabrielleDuVent]

^^ By the same token, does it matter if you DONT want to sign your name or write in bubblegum pink?

 

It's a very one-sided thing. No one cares if you use pink. But everyone seems to care if you actually dare to say you dont want to use pink.

 

It's almost as if there is some kind of reverse machismo thing going on here, with all sorts of justifications why it is ok for men to use pink.

 

Not really. I don't really care if my mate absolutely refuses to use my Rose Cyclamen. More for me.

 

I think the justifications are here because the question is "can a man use [colour name here]", which implies the said asker wants to use it, but is having reservations due to public opinions. And well, no one's forcing anyone to use any colour, so justifications to not use a certain colour would probably get secondary priority.

 

Just my opinion.

[elysee]

Thanks Elysee, but let us not lose touch with reality. While I can and have used real pinkish colors for certain applications, in general it would be looked upon as odd for a man to choose such colors for an everyday ink. This may be only custom, but remember, custom and tradition are really all we have to make sense of the world. I think David Hume showed this a few hundred years back and he has never been convincingly refuted on that point to my knowledge. While someone may decide to throw such restrictions to the wind, such choices shouldn't be taken lightly as they have consequences.

 

By "gender" I assume you mean SEX. Gender is a term used in linguistics. Sex refers to the male and female types.

 

Actually, I used "gender" as it is more all-inclusive than "sex" since my statements were not limited to the standard male and female division of species.

[JonSzanto]

I answered waaaaaay back in this thread. But since it is still going, I just have to say: I'm a man, though not a young one, and I can hardly believe that in this day and age there are any men, anywhere, who are so insecure in their "manhood" that a choice of ink could possibly matter to them. What rubbish.

 

Man up, boys, and use whatever shade ink you happen to like.

[GabrielleDuVent]

If there are men who are so insecure that their gender identities can be shattered by ink hues, then they need to be worrying more about something else than ink.

 

There are men named Evelyn who maintained their masculinities.

 

However, as I recall an opinion that Noodler's Antietam is a MAN ink, maybe there are gender designations to ink colours. Would I be growing chest hair every time I use that colour?

[JonSzanto]

The evolutionary progress of the species is both inconsistent and humorous.

[ethernautrix]

This is starting to get a little too self-conscious, methinks.

 

 

I agree.

 

The social expectation that men should eschew pink while women should love it (or use it or welcome it) is absurd. Like and use whatever colors you want to like. Duh.

 

I understand business environments can dictate standards, but that is a different question from this general inquiry about whether a man "can" use pink ink. A better question would be, what's stopping him?

[Vendome]

If a man used pink ink in a Sailor pen, would he then attract comments of "Hello Sailor."

[amberleadavis]

Based on the logic that men can't use pink...well, I might not be able to use blue or black... oh wait, I don't use black if I can use green. Nevertheless, I can hope he'll send me his pink ink.

[ethernautrix]

^^ By the same token, does it matter if you DONT want to sign your name or write in bubblegum pink?

 

It's a very one-sided thing. No one cares if you use pink. But everyone seems to care if you actually dare to say you dont want to use pink.

 

It's almost as if there is some kind of reverse machismo thing going on here, with all sorts of justifications why it is ok for men to use pink.

 

Use pink ink, don't use pink ink. Why is pink such a controversial color? Why anyone would care? It is so easy to have an opinion, though (to wit, my own participation in this thread to opine, So what?).