%20(1920%20x%201080%20px)_edit.jpg)
by Jayla Shanmugam, Editor-in-Chief
The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.
The world famous Vogue magazine announced their December 2020 cover starring the popular musician Harry Styles proudly sporting a gown. After this cover reveal a large conversation ensued. Many applauded Styles for his fashion choice, but others were disgusted with it. Conservative author and commentator, Candace Owens was extremely outspoken about her dislike of this cover. She made a selu of social media posts condemning Hollywood, Vogue Magazine, Liberals, and Styles himself. She started the #BBMM, which stands for “Bring Back Manly Men”. In response to these posts came more discourse about gender norms. Many arguing that Styles, a cisgender* man, could not claim to be masculine and wear a dress. Amidst all of this controversy, I could not help but think one thing: why are we arguing about this? I believe that as humans we should express ourselves however we see fit, even if that goes outside our gender expectations. Life is too short to not be who you truly are. Is it not society's responsibility to celebrate authenticity? I started to wonder if the people at Bradley agreed or disagreed with me, so I asked students how they felt about gender norms and why they believe society thinks the way it does.
When questioned about why he believes it is so hard for society to accept a man wearing something traditionally feminine, Cayden Burkhart (12) commented, “ I do not know why some people equate clothing with genders. I don’t agree with it and I think society has a hard time taking it in because of those patriotic or traditional values and practices in our world history.” The world is changing and that is difficult and scary for some to accept. Many find comfort in labels and boxes and the world is moving farther and farther away from those ideals every day. I am not a person who personally believes that way, so it’s sometimes difficult for me to truly understand the other perspective. Braden Evans (12) explained his view on why society equates specific things with gender, “ Society likes to equate objects and behaviors to gender because it makes comprehending things a much simpler task. It’s the same reason that we use labels for gender and sexuality, human constructs that only exist because society decided for them to exist. People fail to subjugate themselves to thinking instead of generalizing with labels that don’t really examine the full human experience as it relates to these objects and behaviors.”
The portrayal of masculinity and femininity in our society is very interesting, yet is also confusing for me to digest. Why can’t these two things coexist inside a person at once? Why does society condemn a man like Harry Styles for his “feminine” choices? Why is masculinity such a box in which people have to conform or they are automatically viewed as feminine? Charlie Kaneer believes (12), “Society fears what it doesn't understand. It also stems from the toxicity of traditional gender values. Some traditional men will experience anger because they have been conditioned to despise femininity in men.” This is an incredible point, our world villainizes men who express femininity because of the patriarchy. Braden Evans (12) also agreed with this stating, “Misogyny is built into the system of society and the hyper-masculinity is not only limited gender expression, but has established the building blocks of queerphobia (homophobia and transphobia) as well. There would be nothing wrong with Harry Styles wearing a dress if it hadn’t been equated to Harry Styles degrading himself with femininity.”
These societal pressures we are placing on one another are incredibly harmful and damaging to people’s lives. We push these boundaries on people who never wanted or asked for them. This can really affect the way we grow up and can stunt individuals' journeys in finding themselves. Feras Aklahi (12) commented about how gender norms have affected him, “As a guy, I’ve grown up with people constantly telling me to “man up” or to “be a man” and I think that’s where the problem lies. Men are taught to not show any type of emotion because if they do, then they aren’t strong and this leads to horrible behavior. If you teach someone that they can’t be vulnerable then they will become angry and harmful to themselves and others because of the emotion they’re holding in.” This example is extremely powerful when discussing how gender expectations affect people’s personality and personal preference. The societal norm is quick to limit people’s possibilities when it demands they stick to gender expectations. These rules make it unacceptable for people to express themselves in the way they like.
In essence, throughout my interviews with students I learned a lot about gender expectations, why they exist in our society, and how they affect people. I also had some personal epiphanies about how sexism plays into the negativity of “feminine men”. Overall, from the perspectives I collected at Bradley seems to be that many students do not agree with the condemnation of gender expression outside of the norm. I wholeheartedly agree and hope that this story inspires you to be who you are no matter what!
*refers to when a person's gender identity corresponds to their sex as assigned at birth
Comments