Pinktoes, Chester Himes said, is a term of indulgent affection applied to white women by negro men, and sometimes conversely by negro women to white men, but never adversely by either. In this rowdy work of fiction that ...Pinktoes, Chester Himes said, is a term of indulgent affection applied to white women by negro men, and sometimes conversely by negro women to white men, but never adversely by either. In this rowdy work of fiction that debunks self-satisfied do-gooders, himes satirizes social missionaries who preach uplift and promote specious causes.