History RealMenWearPink / Literature

*** Oh, and one time he tried to arrest ''Vetinari himself''.
*** For parking improperly. Because Carrot is the only person who's read the laws of Ankh-Morpork.

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', Ward takes great glee in renaming his father's fierce stallion ... after a flower. He later rides that same horse and is obviously not bothered by the cutesy name. There's also Oreg, who sometimes embroiders clothes as a hobby. The only one who knows that is Ward, who doesn't say anything about it. Played with in that Ward isn't completely above childish ideas about masculinity -- he does compare himself to a girl at the beginning of the novel when he gets lost in a cave and panics.

* In Creator/DeanKoontz's ''Whispers'', one of the side characters is a former drug-dealing ScaryBlackMan who got out of prison and made a fortune designing dresses and other women's clothing. He mentions that even before he was arrested, his girlfriends always got more compliments when they let him pick their outfits.

* In ''LightNovel/AnotherNote'', Beyond Birthday wears makeup [[spoiler: to look more like his idol, L]], and eats sweets. He also spends an entire paragraph gushing over [[Manga/AkazukinChaCha a manga aimed at young girls]], and says he loved reading and watching that particular series when he was younger.

* Zillah from ''Literature/LostSouls'' by Poppy Z. Brite is an incredibly badass vampire who impregnates several women throughout the story, who's always described as "beautifully androgynous" with long hair he ties back with a purple scarf.

* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'': In a ''Grantville Gazette'' short story, downtime experimental aviators tend to wear pink scarfs, reasoning that Jesse Wood, the 17th century's first pilot, made the first aircraft pink because it's the color of courage. The actual reason it's pink, however, is because of the Formica counter top material he used for part of the construction of the aircraft's fuselage, not out of any particular emotional reasoning regarding the color.

** In ''Literature/TheTruth'', Mr. Tulip is a giant bruiser who can barely think, whose every second word is "--ing" (literally) and whose brain is constantly fizzing with what he ''thinks'' are awesome drugs, but show him any antique or work of art and he'll be able to instantly identify the period, creator, history and technique, as well as whether or not the particular example is genuine or a copy, and will often burst into tears because of how --ing beautiful it is.

** Wee Mad Arthur, a three-inch-tall Feegle [[RaisedByWolves raised by gnomes]] who loves ballet, opera and visiting art galleries and [[spoiler:can beat up half-a-dozen regular Nac Mag Feegle single handed]]. He also ''terrifies'' full-sized humans, and anyone who tries to step on him never tries it twice.
** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'' Nanny Ogg mentions that her [[GentleGiant gigantic hulking barge]] of an eldest son, the town blacksmith Jason Ogg, knits socks in the evenings. Of course, he's still, you know, a guy with minivans where his biceps oughta be; the socks he knits are made with the super-tough wool of Lancre sheep, can stand up without feet in them, and can be used to kick down walls in times of incarceration or boredom. He is also known as the kindest and gentlest person around, explicitly because no-one dares to mock him for it. Given that the Lancrastian dialect (especially as spoken by Jason Ogg) is OopNorth English, this may be TruthInTelevision; historically the lead miners of Upper Swaledale knitted socks from the wool of fell sheep, often knitting as they went to work with their wool tied to their belts with little hand-carved wooden chains, and these guys were not sissies!

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', Ward takes great glee in renaming his father's fierce stallion ... after a flower. He later rides that same horse, and is obviously not bothered by the cutesy name. There's also Oreg, who sometimes embroiders clothes as a hobby. The only one who knows that is Ward, who doesn't say anything about it. Played with in that Ward isn't completely above childish ideas about masculinity -- he does compare himself to a girl at the beginning of the novel, when he gets lost in a cave and panics.

* Creator/GlenCook's ''Literature/GarrettPI'' series has a pair of twenty foot tall grolls (half-giant, half-troll) DumbMuscle brothers named Doris and Marsha.
* Rhett Butler of ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'' is a pretty badass guy who's known for fighting, messing with loads of girls and general illegal stuff. He also reads Shakespeare, always knows the latest fashion trends, comforts his daughter when she gets scared of the dark, and often chats with women about parenthood. This book actually lampshades the fact that no one wants to confront Rhett over his 'sensitive' traits because he's so badass.

** Hagrid is a mountain of a man, with wild, untamed hair, who loves to care for horrifically dangerous beasts. However, he's also fond of knitting and has a pink flowery umbrella. Apparently, the author based his character after the time she overheard a grizzly biker worrying about his petunias.

* Peeta Mellark of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' is an amateur wrestler who carries 100 pound bags of flour over his head without a problem, is deadly with a knife and spear, [[spoiler:kills big, tough Brutus during the Quarter Quell]] and whose masculinity is never questioned in the book. He also loves decorating cakes and bakes flower shaped cookies.
* Referenced in the thoughts of Nasuada in ''Inheritance'' of ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'', who recalls learning from some of the men in her army who seemingly only had an interest in "women, wine and war" how they have a fondness for memorizing romantic poems, or petting hounds.

* In the ''Literature/PhulesCompany'' novels, Sgt. Escrima is an [[SupremeChef exceptionally talented chef]], and chose his Legion name for his preferred fighting style (involving two sticks), which he teaches to other members of the company. Do ''not'' criticize his cooking unless you enjoy pain, since he's been known to [[BerserkButton hospitalize would-be food critics]]. Notably, Escrima is a Philippino martial art that specializes in the triumvirate of stick, knife and machete, and as such is a particular nasty fighting style that generally focuses on finishing fights quickly, since protracted knife and/or machete fights only increase the risk that all combatants end up dead.

* Erik von Darkmoor from ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'' is a six foot plus mountain of muscle, war hero and badass commando who grew up in the wine country, and therefore drinks wine instead of the more typically macho beer and ale, and feels perfectly secure asking for it in a BadGuyBar full of hard bitten mercenaries.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' features many examples of this trope. Knights in Westeros pimp out their armor to show off their wealth, often covering themselves in garish colors. In particular, Rhaegar Targaryen was known for being both an exceptionally good fighter, and very pretty. Thoros of Myr takes the trope literally by wearing his red robes long after they have faded to pink (he also has long hair worn in a topnot, as is standard for Red Priests). He has a flaming sword, and knows how to use it well enough to impress The Hound. House Bolton takes the trope to an extreme level. One of their house colors is pink, meant to represent the human skin that they ''flay from their living enemies''. In the Slaver Cities, the warrior caste subvert the trope by wearing ridiculous hairstyles...and leaving the actual fighting to the slaves.

** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by [[FourStarBadass Dalinar]] in the third book, when he joins a meeting of [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Alethi scientists and scholars]]. In their culture only [[AlwaysFemale women]] and ardents (a sort of cross between priests, monks, and slaves) even learn to read. Dalinar isn't much of a scholar or scientist himself, but he's goes to support his son [[NonActionGuy Renarin]]. As a non-warrior, Renarin often faces mockery for not lining up with his culture's standard of masculinity and doing things like attending scholarly meetings, but if storming ''[[TheDreaded Dalinar]] [[EmpoweredBadassNormal Kholin]]'' shows up to something, ''no one'' is going to suggest it's "unmanly".
*** This actually causes a few problems for Dalinar in the fourth book. People are wondering if Dalinar is making a mockery of the Vorin faith he is wrestling with, due to his excommunication in the previous book and Vorinism's gender roles (strictly observed by the Alethi, not much by other cultures), but these problems are exploited by his niece Jasnah, who is facing similar criticism as Alethkar's first queen (previously a male-only role). She manages to bait out a particularly grumbly Highprince into an outright duel over Dalinar's unmanly new hobbies, and Jasnah's unfeminine role and presence at a war council, which she promptly wins and install's the Highprince's son as his replacement (whom she had previously conspired with to seat in his father's place), intending to create a more equal and tolerant Alethkar for people of all genders and cultures going forward.

* ''[[Literature/CatulliCarmen16 16]]'' by Creator/{{Catullus}} was written with this as the central theme. Catullus was apparently accused of being effeminate by writing poems about kisses, so he wrote this to show that such poems does not make him less of a man. Notoriously, he expresses this point by using colorful language.

* Butler, a hulking BadassNormal and BattleButler in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'', claims to only enjoy reading soppy romance novels -- apparently, books with action and explosions and helicopters and stuff like that remind him too much of real life. His favorite movie? ''Not'' something like ''Franchise/DieHard''. It's ''Film/SomeLikeItHot''. That said, he's still a giant of a man who defeated an entire fairy strike team on his own, and beat the crap out of a troll with a medieval mace.

* ''[[Literature/CarmenCatulli16 16]]'' by Creator/{{Catullus}} was written with this as the central theme. Catullus was apparently accused of being effeminate by writing poems about kisses, so he wrote this to show that such poems does not make him less of a man. Notoriously, he expresses this point by using colorful language.

** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by [[FourStarBadass Dalinar]] in the third book, when he joins a meeting of [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Alethi scientists and scholars]]. In their culture only [[AlwaysFemale women]] and ardents (a sort of cross between priests, monks, and slaves) even learn to read. Dalinar isn't much of a scholar or scientist himself, but he's goes to support his son [[NonActionGuy Renarin]]. As a [[IllBoy non-warrior]], Renarin often faces mockery for not lining up with his culture's standard of masculinity and doing things like attending scholarly meetings, but if storming ''[[TheDreaded Dalinar]] [[EmpoweredBadassNormal Kholin]]'' shows up to something, ''no one'' is going to suggest it's "unmanly".

* Chris Wohl from Creator/DaleBrown's books, a big and fearsome Marine, knows how to look after kids.

* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', Ward takes great glee in renaming his father's fierce stallion ... after a flower. He later rides that same horse, and is obviously not bothered by the cutesy name. There's also Oreg, who sometimes embroiders clothes as a hobby. The only one who knows that is Ward, who doesn't say anything about it. Played with in that Ward isn't completely above childish ideas about masculinity - he does compare himself to a girl at the beginning of the novel, when he gets lost in a cave and panics.

* The YA novel ''Flipside'' gives this an interesting spin. The protagonist has spent most of his life as a wallflower, and timidity is built into his basic identity. When [[WholesomeCrossdresser in female clothing]], however, he no longer feels like himself, so he can adopt any identity he wants--and the identity he wants is an assertive, dominating one. In other words, dresses make him more manly!

* Logan Bruno from ''Literature/TheBabySittersClub''. As can be inferred from the series title combined with the trope, he is a thirteen-year-old boy who babysits. This gets him a ton of grief from his football, baseball, volleyball, and track teammates, who call him "Lois" and don't shut up until the day all seven members of the titular club ''and'' a bunch of the kids they sit for come to track tryouts to cheer him on. All of a sudden, being liked by cute girls and enthusiastic kids is pretty cool. Even Logan's father, a manly sportsman who went to a military academy and would like Logan to do the same, is uncomfortable with his son liking to babysit (despite the fact that he has two younger children whom Logan babysits a lot, including a brother with special needs relating to his severe allergies), and rationalizes it to himself as something Logan does to impress his girlfriend, and ''that'' makes it okay.

* While Karrin Murphy of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is obviously not male, she works so hard on fitting in with the boys-club CPD that when Harry finally sees her house - and it's ''adorable'' - he can't help but [[SnarkKnight comment]].
* Patricia Wrede's ''[[Literature/TheEnchantedForestChronicles Enchanted Forest]]'' side-story ''Utensile Strength'' has the royal family trying to find [[TheChosenOne the proper wielder]] for a literal enchanted FryingPanOfDoom. To do this, they hold a "barbarian cook-off", drawing competitors from across the land. Even after the pan's true wielder is found, the barbarians themselves insist on completing the contest.

** Also Thranduil aka "The Elvenking" in ''Literature/TheHobbit''. In the summer he wears a crown of flowers. He's also probably the best warrior still alive in the Third Age.

** Captain Carrot Ironfounderson, a six-foot tall Dwarf, has all the typical Dwarf traits: a dedication to polishing his armour, a great admiration of all forms of craftsdwarfship (from bakery to jewellery to the latest in fashion), and enough upper body strength to drive his sword through the BigBad and ''right through'' the three feet thick marble pillar behind him. More uniquely "Carrot" traits involve starting a youth football club (among the violent street gangs of the world's worst ghetto), setting up a "volunteer" scheme to do things for the elderly (the "volunteer" helpers are convicted murderers on a community service scheme) and arresting the rulers of Ankh-Morpork several times (including the Dragon who took over the city and the head Thief of the Thieves' guild).

* A literal example in ''Literature/TheUnderlandChronicles'': [[KidHero 12-year-old Gregor]], who never really cares about masculinity, uses a pink girl's backpack to carry supplies on a dangerous mission, simply because it was the only one available. The Underlanders seem to lack the gendered color associations we have, so nobody brings it up.

* ''Literature/CagingSkies'': What are the hobbies of Soviet Union fleeing VodkaDrunkenski Russian soldiers Sergey Karganov and Fedor Kalinin? ''Baking''.

** In ''Literature/TheTruth'', Mr. Tulip is a giant bruiser who can barely think, whose every second word is "--ing" (literally) and whose brain is constantly fizzing with what he ''thinks'' are [[BeatBag awesome drugs]], but show him any antique or work of art and he'll be able to instantly identify the period, creator, history and technique, as well as whether or not the particular example is genuine or a copy, and will often burst into tears because of how --ing beautiful it is.

** According to ''Lao-Tze's Yearbook of Enlightenment'', while the Monks of Cool generally wear black, because black is always Cool, they also sometimes were pink, on the basis that if you're sufficiently Cool, pink can become Cool just because you're the one wearing it. (They don't wear pink to ''demonstrate'' they can do this, because feeling they had anything to prove would not be Cool.)