Unfortunately, efforts toward equality are just the beginning, especially in the United States. By bringing in hundreds of cultural beliefs, the “right” course of action for feminism, gender equality, and gender roles becomes more and more skewed. What one culture may regard as liberal is conservative for another, and so on and so forth. For example, in Islam, many women wear burkhas. To be a moderately liberal Muslim woman is to walk freely without a burkha, but still wear clothes that cover all skin. On the other hand, an Irish-American woman would think it’s quite conservative to be completely clothed at all times of the year.
Such thinking can be applied to men internationally too. Men too are stigmatized. Gang violence culture, which is primarily dominated by men, occurs in every country listed previously. A common psychological phenomenon defines gang violence, known as GroupThink - a group will agree just to maintain peace, even if some people disagree privately. In gangs, men feel an obligation to not only support their gang but also their families financially, so even if they may disagree with some decisions, they will not retort back. Another example of masculine expectations is that men are ridiculed and judged for having a keen interest in fashion because it’s “abnormal” - cultural stigmatization has resulted in a false belief that women care more about their external appearances than men. Women’s clothes are generally more diverse, more colorful, etc. Women can wear makeup, jewelry, and even cosmetically modify their bodies, while it’s extremely rare for men to do any of the above. When women supposedly have more choices, they can ruminate more on their external appearance, thus supporting the notion that women care more than men do. And so, if some men DO care about their outward beauty, they are regarded as feminine and ridiculed, because they could be spending their time towards more intelligent, aggressive, and rugged activities instead of fashion. Such stereotypes, which, once again, change in intensity from culture to culture, can further aggravate patriarchy by forcing an individual to act in a manner they may not want to; not all men are power-hungry, and not all women love fashion. Not all boys like blue, and not all girls like pink. |