Elements Of Gender: An Observation

     Around the world we are undergoing a shifting of gender concepts; it's a slow process and one that we will get through, should climate change not lead life to extinction first. Right now we still have a lot of attention being put on the female side of gender disparity, but I think people are less quick or understanding for males. We always talk about the repressive culture women have suffered, but when you think about it, men have lived with a different kind of repression that has stemmed from the same patriarchy system; as patriarchy only benefits 'rich men' and realistically 'rich women' the connection is obvious that wealth is the actual influencer, not necessarily gender or sex. Women have actually made some great strides forward in the 'equity' of certain participation and social/economic mobility, but remember this. Many, not all, of modern day feminists are not arguing to be registered for the draft; though this would certainly be a part of the height of social equity.

     Men have lived with many nagging thoughts that they themselves may not even be actually aware of, for example, men are cannon fodder for war, they go and die, while women are viewed as something to be protected, they stay home, raise children; but I dare you to tell one of those mothers or fathers that their son is only good for such a fate. A parent's child is viewed as precious to them regardless of gender or sex, yet there is an implicit bias that men have a different standard. As an example, men are viewed as 'stronger' and so there is often a general felling that 'you can handle it' when things go wrong or badly. Men are expected to 'be on top of things' regardless of many circumstances. I've known many friends of mine who feel like failures because they haven't measured up to the standards of manliness that others have expected them to.

     Women can in today's society comfortably wear more masculine clothing without fear of being viewed necessarily in a negative light, men do not have that luxury. This is why the LGBT movement matters so much more than we know, redefining gender roles and sexual acceptability matters if we want to have a emotionally balanced society; there are a surprising amount of men who want to 'look and feel pretty' and by that I think everyone understands what I mean, yet, those people aren't 100% comfortable with the idea of being out in the public about it; judgment and all. We are living in a realignment of what it is to be a man in this new world, and that's ok, but I would hope that people understand that this is happening and that like all things it is slow and often not so uniformed.

     The equity part of feminism is a two way street, and while female advancement is important and the social stigmas and barriers against them need to be addressed, many of those same barriers extend in very different ways to their male counterparts, they may manifest in different ways, they may have different effects, but they exist. Women have had to deal with many oppressive situations, but think of who patriarchy keeps down in total, if you're not rich, patriarchy oppresses women, gay men, transgendered people, and forces poor men to fight in their wars and die for their imperialist causes for more wealth and privilege and makes impoverished men to brutes over their fellows because of that measly amount of power they cling to is all they have to pride themselves in order to give them solace against the grueling fact that they are powerless against a soul crushing system that treats them callously and with complete indifference; pride becomes the only sanctuary left to the weak. We need to grapple with this if we have any real desire to address the true inequities and systemic problems that we face as a species.

     In any way, however, it is true that the human spectrum of gender roles is, to a slight extent, being more acknowledged for what it is rather than what we would force it to be. The acceptance, however, of said diversity is long from complete. Perhaps we require a male sexual revolution when it comes to seeing that sex as diverse in its appearance and behavior. We need to, as a society, grow more comfortable with seeing/allowing the expression of individual autonomy and diversity. Though, the truth of the matter is, there is an inevitable overlap with the cause of equity of human rights and the inequity created by capitalism, such things are inevitable and to a certain extent are intertwined.

     And so, in summation, I would agree that there are also a lot of problematic things that come along with gender roles in general though. This type of thinking is both victimizing to women but also insulting to men; as it asserts than men are by definition uncontrollable. Gender stereotyping is a net negative to all, women stay at home, cook, clean, take care of children, Men are cannon fodder who are only good for working, fighting and dying for other people. Daughters are breeders, Sons are pawns in the game of war and the machine of capitalism; both are reduced to tools, divest of their human potential. Men are handsome and women are pretty; the other way around is viewed as socially stigmatic, don't see why, pretty guys can be just as attractive as women from what I have seen. Society has got a long way to go until we shed this over simplified way of thinking; that or global warming will kill us, either way, it will be gone.