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bannister · 08-03-2010, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry

I think this is sort of an interesting thread.
And I also believe gender identity is 100% real.
But I donno if much of it could be based of societal influences... the fact that women are expected to be 'submissive' (wear the 'skirt' in a relationship, been oppressed for years, not be professional, domestication, can't sleep around without being looked down upon, play with dolls etc, etc) while men are expected to be domineering (be professional, wear the 'trou' , play sports, etc) ... but those things, masculinity/feminism, its all made up if you think of in.

In fact while a the gym, I was thinking on this the other day (just cos I tend to be quite the contemplative individual

) in the sense that I saw a couple o kiddos towards the care centre; A little girl and a young lad probably no older than 6 or 7 each. The lass was in teeny shorts, doll in hand, long hair, floral printed shirt... the lad was in a baggy t-shirt, longer shorts and video game portable thing in hand. And I was just thinking how these kids are already moulded, from birth most likely, to be a 'girl' or a 'boy' and act that way. There was never a choice to drift towards one's actual interests, but they were conditioned to act one way or the other.

Erm and I think that could cause gender distress. Whose to say that you are a gender satisfied bloke who just enjoys doing 'girlish' things, moreso? And in that sense you feel alienated by your own gender cos societally, it aint acceptable for you to enjoy those things?

Yeeargh, just a potential theory to think about. Sometimes I think the societal expectations are irksome. Like... why am I *** if I don't wanna sleep with every girl I see? Why is it *** to want to wait with my girlfriend? Those sorts of things... I'd rather it be considered respectable, as it is for girls!

That's a pretty good point. I've always found gender roles to be pretty interesting, and the fact that most people only worry about women's gender roles- that is, if they worry about gender roles at all, a lot of people don't give a flying **** -annoys me to no end. Last time I checked I'm not a man, but idiotic macho stereotypes aren't doing anyone female any favors, either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boo boo

I think people often misuse the words when describing men as feminine and women as masculine, often they aren't really. And so many people now blur the lines between what are considered masculine and feminine traits. We are in a very androgynous age now, all you gotta do is look at most rock music movements and their resulting subcultures and fashion sense.

Today, at least in more progressive parts of the world, men definining themselves as "masculine" and women defining themselves "feminine" are cultural choices rather than enforced dogma as they were for many ages. Obviously that's how it should be. People have the choice of what gender they want to define themselves as, they can be one or the other, or both, or neither.

I think that things have progressed a lot for people who don't fit traditional gender roles (not that very many people actually do) in the last few decades, but there's still a long way to go. Society still isn't that approving of people who deviate from what's considered the "norm", though attitudes are so much better now than they were 50 years ago.