Gender Roles

In today's society they tell you not to walk but not to run. They tell you how to act and how to think, but what boundaries are the ones that dictate how macho we have to be? How feminine women should be? These boundaries are gender roles, and just like you see in these pictures it is apparent why today's vast majority of the population is confused about what to do, and afraid to like and do what they like to do. For men they tell us that we have to be
"built," but they also tell us that we have to eat "man-sized" meals to define ourselves. For women they tell them that they have to wear makeup in society but not too much makeup otherwise they look like "whores." Some people go around and say that they don't follow their gender roles, that they are "independent" but most of these gender roles are subconscious. Ask yourself, why is it that whenever you see a sidewalk you choose to walk on it instead of making your own path? It is the subconscious form of control that dictates how you act in society. Now instead of "doing your own thing" you now have forms of control that tell you where to go and when, and just like the sidewalk example we all fall into what society tells us to do. Gender roles in today's society tell us what we need and are supposed to act like, dress like, and even think like. In order to be a man in today's society we need to be strong, we need to be tough, and we need to defend our masculinity at all costs. In order to be a female in today's society you need to be dainty, and submissive. You can see every kind of reinforcing these stereotypes by just looking at what we watch and read (Sex in the City, Motor Cross, Vogue) and even in the toys and games that our children enjoy (Baseball, Ballet, GI Joe, Barbie). Guys today constantly insult each other by calling them "fags" if they like one movie or the other. Our society has bastardized its "gender roles" even to the point where in a few cases defendants have gotten away with murder because the victim was gay and they were just "defending their masculinity." Even in our rhetoric we see today in the entertainment industry we label movies as "chick flicks." So my only thing to add to this is the next time you see a person, think about them, then think about the label you just gave them. Don't try to say you don't label people because everyone label's people, whether it be straight, gay, retro, bi, fat, skinny, hot, sexy, or even cute everybody labels.