Tuesday, October 14, 2014

The Gender Politics of Stupid Things

Even when it comes to things as mundane as cosmetic procedures and clothes, gender politics are at play. There has always been a double standard of the equality of the sexes ingrained in our culture, and woman sadly are generally portrayed as the less than sex.

When men adopt something that women have already been doing for years, they always have to change the name of the activity.

Manscaping, Bro-tox, manzeirs... And god forbid you ever compliment a man wearing a kilt on his lovely plaid skirt. (Ok, men in kilts have been around for quite a long time, but who can resist a good kilt joke?)

In WWI when women started donning their husband's trousers to perform heavy labor, we didn't start calling pants she-pants. ("Pass me my fe-knickers before my knees get cold!") Because pants, much like braziers, don't need to subscribe to a gender. And that's fine. Men, it's ok, just get secure with your Botox, and bra wearing.  I'm secure enough in my womanhood to not worry you'll think I'm a man because I am using two tubes of fabric to cover my legs instead of one. And if you did think I was a man, I wouldn't care, because there is no inherent value in gender.