Gender Inequality

When you're born a girl. You are restricted and why? I couldn’t tell you. As a woman, I am told how to act and what to wear to be identified as a woman, and I don’t know where they came from. It feels so natural to be like a woman and behave like one but why? Men become men when they realize that they aren’t supposed to cry and they aren’t supposed to whine; that is a woman’s job. Men are told things like, “you fight like a girl” or “you run like a girl.” When was being a girl an insult? It took me until recently to realize that women weren't paid the same as a man for an equal job. The truth is, I didn't realize anything about gender equality until this year. People trick you into thinking that gender inequality is a third world country problem. But it's an everyday problem. 

As Emma Watson stated, feminism is given a bad name. It means that you want equality for all genders. And I do. Men feel they have to be masculine while women assume they have to be girly and prissy. I have discovered that in ancient text, a woman was the most important thing. She was the all-knowing creature. Achilles turned to his mother for advice; Shamhat, the prostitute from “The Epic of Gilgamesh” was the dream interpreter. Women were valued and important; they were the ones who could civilize people because they were so knowledgeable. And then the Bible was born. The Bible turned many people against woman. The woman became the one who should be punished with child bearing. Women were given restrictions on how to dress and how to act correctly and “like a lady.” When you raise your children, you give them gender roles that they have to identify with. Little girls get Barbie dolls and little boys get toy cars, etc. When did these toys become associated with a girl or a boy?

Women are convinced that they have to look a certain way to please others and fit in. There is a new trend “the thigh gap” that has beautiful women feeling like they have to be perfect to be wanted or seen. The truth is, beauty is in every form. A thigh gap or a perfect body doesn’t define beauty; beauty is defined by who you are. I understand why people feel this way because when you go to try on clothes, there is a perfect girl in a picture on the wall in the clothes you just tried on, did I mention looking perfect? All I do is remember that Photoshop may be a factor.  I don’t agree with Photoshop because flaws are what make people unique and beautiful and dare I say, different. Differences are what show me I am human; flaws show me I am human.

When a sex crime is committed to a woman; she is faced with questions of why it happened? What were you wearing? Were you provoking that person by being too skimpy? Or did you provoke them by just walking by. When a man has had a sex crime committed to them... are they questioned like women are? The answer is no. They are treated like the victim and not the reason they are raped. The thing that bothers me the most, is that rape is mostly associated with women and we forget that men get raped too. We forget that men are not always the strong one. They are forced into thinking that crying is wrong and maybe they even feel that rape makes them weak.

In conclusion, I am for the equality of all genders. I don’t believe that there should be a set way for each gender. I wish men were behind feminists. I want people to realize that there is gender inequality and it doesn’t only apply to women. Men are made to feel like they have to be a certain way and women are convinced they have to act a same way as well.

Taylor<3