30 July 2008

The Pink Belt of Shame

If you read yesterdays post, you would know that my daughter forgot her belt for her martial arts (Kyuki-Do) class last night. I ran it out to her so she wouldn't get in trouble, or at least end up doing push ups.
Well, she found out that the teacher keeps a pink belt in his bag for those students who forget their belts. Out of 30 or so students, only 4-5 are girls. So I suppose the belt is pink because the guys would not want to wear a pink belt. My daughter said the students called it "The Pink Belt of Shame" LOL.
She thanked me for bringing her belt to her, so she wouldn't have to wear the pink belt of shame. She has a black uniform and I always liked the look of pink and black together. She might've been stylin : ) I'm still glad I brought her the belt.

4 comments:

L. J. Lowe said...

So humiliation is supposed to help memory. :(

unschoolermom said...

That's really kind of sad. I'm glad she didn't have to wear it, but I do wonder at the logic of having a belt of shame.

Kandy

Donna said...

Maybe I didn't say it clearly enough on the post......The kids in the class (not the instructor) call it the pink belt of shame, and they mean it tongue in cheek. Yes, no one wants to wear it, but it isn't like they are scarred for life if they do. The uniforms need to be belted. The jacket type thing wraps around and needs a belt to stay closed. Colors represent rank, and there is no pink rank, which I suppose is also part of the reason why he chose a pink belt. (the ranks are white, yellow, green, blue, brown, red, black.) Not too many other choices available other than pink or purple really. You can't give a white belt a red or black belt to wear, it would confuse the others in the class. It is a mixed rank class, people are paired as close to their rank class as possible when sparring. It's also a mixed age class, anywhere for 6 year olds to adult. So it isn't like all 10-14 yerar olds being shamed. Plus, I suppose, if the thought of wearing a pink belt embarrasses you, it may just motivate someone to remember to bring their own. My daughter knows she wouldn've survived if she had to wear it, and I don't even think she would have been that embarrassed after the intial shock of having to wear it. She thought it was funny.

Stephanie said...

You are a good mom and no matter what the explanation there is obviously humiliation associated with the pink belt.