Problematic gender norms...
Below is some research I found into challenging the gender norms. I found it really useful for inspiration. I feel very strongly about men not being able to express their emotions. I have lost friends due to this. I would like to take inspiration from Maud Fernhaut who did a whole series based around developing a project that would subvert gender stereotypes. This also ties in with the research from Grayson Perry's film, "All Man". Here are some words I picked out when I watched Grayson's film.
Aggression ~ EGO ~ Naive Boys ~ Alpha Males ~ Reputation ~ Pecking Order ~ Higher Archy ~ Top Dog ~ Dominant ~ Pressure of being male ~ Bully ~ Honour ~ Loyalty ~ Absent fathers ~ Prowling panthers ~ Thin Vaneer ~ Young medieval Nobles ~ FEAR ~ Landscape of Lost bewildered maleness in the roar ~ RESPECT ~ STATUS ~ Proud ~ Strong ~ Young ~ Embarrassment ~ Shame ~ Powerlessness ~ Humiliating ~ Emotional ~ RAW masculinity
'Real Men Don’t Cry'
Expectation:
Men grow up with the belief that crying is a sign of weakness.
While adults will often say soothing things to a crying child to get them to calm down, boys are more likely to be told by parents, teachers and their peers that they shouldn’t cry and that they should suck it up instead. This leads boys to bottle up their emotions and keeps them from overcoming them effectively. And since it’s perfectly acceptable for girls to cry, many men associate crying with femininity and weakness.
Reality:
The bottom line is crying is a normal human emotion that doesn’t need to be associated with a weakness for any gender or gender non-conforming person. As Jack Fisch points out in his article “7 Positive Phrases We Should Be Teaching America’s Boys About Masculinity, “Despite this cultural stereotype, science shows that crying helps regulate emotional stress and is widely considered a healthy outlet.”
"Communicate."
"Crying does not make you weak."
"No means no."
Be gender-neutral when referring to a boy’s future partner.
"Brave up."
"Be responsible."
"Be confident in who you are."
More from Maud Fernhaut
Maud also did another project alongside the men crying one called "What real women laugh like". I really love this concept also as again it challenged gender stereotypes. I only just found this article but I have a picture to show just this of my own from when I shot Katy. Below is Maud's picture and below that are two of my own of Katy & Ffion.
I also caught some real laughs from the males dressed as women, I really loved these shots.
Gender Stereotypes and the Media
Movies, television shows, music, and even pop culture are tremendous influences when it comes to gendered expectations of masculinity and femininity.
In the film 50 Shades of Grey, the female protagonist Anastasia Steele is portrayed as a quiet, reserved college student who becomes the love interest of Christian Grey, a powerful businessman. Both characters display tired gender norms that could potentially be harmful to men and women. For example, Christian Grey is portrayed as the ideal man, he’s rich, stoic but handsome, and fit. And Ana is a young, beautiful and timid woman who is willing to do anything to please him sexually. Though it’s only a movie, the relationship dynamics of Christian and Ana are problematic. Since Christian holds most of the power in their relationship it leads him to do some really unhealthy things such as stalking Ana at work and showing up to apartment unannounced. As for Ana, her codependency and need for approval from Christian is portrayed as romantic and endearing.
We should be critical of the way we are taught to expect men and women to behave based on their gender. We live in a more progressive time compared to the past when it comes to some issues regarding gender, but we need to remember that gendered expectations are still ingrained into our culture and it is so subtle that we hardly even notice. There are some really simple ways we can help stop its influence such as creating safe spaces for men to express the full range of their emotions and letting women know that their voices matter. No matter what gender someone self-identify’s as there’s no difference in our ability to make a change.
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