A few posts down I talked about gender roles (the
spoof video of "Blurred lines" in which the roles were swapped, half-naked men and fully clothed women, to show the sexism in Thicke´s
original video) and how we often take somehow for granted that it´s the female role to be objects and the male role to be the "viewer". Yes, yes I´m aware of the fact that we actually have more genders than just these two but let me cut some corners here.
You also, my dear reader, by this time must know that I have absolutely nothing against the naked body (male, female or something other) or that a pair of naked breasts won´t upset me. That´s not the point here. The point is how *it´s done* and how we keep up old, dusty gender roles if we never question them. Norms, those unwritten rules about what is ok behavior and looks. What´s wrong with the old models? you ask. Well, they are a bit unequal, would you not say? They keep up the image of only one kind of masculinity and only one kind of femininity and I dare to say that most of us won´t fit into those categories. And to not-fit-in makes one feel of less value, to feel ugly and to have low self-esteem.
To keep showing women as objects is something that lessens the value of feminine. To use "feminine" words to describe negative things (e.g when someone is a "pussy" or "a twat", not to mention the "bitches", "ho´s" and "sluts") and masculine ones for positive attributes (to "have balls/be ballsy", be "a man" or "dude"). Surely I have been on the subject
before but as it never seems to become old (since there´s no change to be seen) I´ll keep yapping ´til you all just tire of me ;)
Feminism does not mean that feminine should be treated with more value than masculine. Feminism does not mean "men-hating lesbians" as one so often hears. I know a lot of men who are feminists. It´s simply because it´s about equality DESPITE gender. We are more than our sex or gender, unfortunately culture and history has gone the way that things OTHER than masculine are often perceived as "less" or "wrong" or silly, stupid, girly,whimsical, soft, emotional, gay or pick-any-given-word-you´ve-heard-to-describe-something-non-masculine.
There are as many ways of being "a man" as there are ways of being "a woman" and everything in between. Not all of us "naturally tend" towards playing with Barbies or truck-toys. I do believe that we are brought up in a way that we notice a positive re-inforcement when we do something that society deems appropriate behavior for our gender. Most of us do this without even thinking about it. I´m totally fighting the urge to always compliment girls´dresses and try to compliment them on something they´ve done well instead, as well as trying to find something else to say to boys then just asking about how well they did in ice hockey :) It´s not easy but it is doable. Society´s norms change slowly but one has to believe that at some point, small step by small step, we will get there. As girls has earned the right to wear pants without judgement, boys still are snickered upon if they wear a skirt. I hope this will change, soon.
Ok, rant over! But to pick your brain a bit further: go check out this fantastic site that shows "the feminine in men"
here! I will leave you with some pictures of men posing as pin up girls do. I have posted these before but they are just too good NOT to post again ;)
Have a splendid Saturday!
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| Pictures from: http://9gag.com/gag/a8W46GQ |
