Society today has a set variation of gender commonality that most individuals follow without being conscious that they do so. When I speak about gender normalities, I mean how it is acknowledged that men should pay first on the first date or women are seen as sluts if they openly express that they like to be sexually active. Yet, in this world today we preach for equality-- having parades and events to prove that we, in fact, are equal. Then, ethnocentric ideals set in and you begin judging others on what they should be doing by the standards of what you would do. To me; ethnocentrism is not providing leeway to further our intentions to have equality amongst the genders and even races of individuals around the global.
If you believe men should pay for your meal on the first date only because they're guys, to me is flat out sexist. If you believe in feminism, but believe that men have to pay for your food every time you both go out. You are not at all a true feminist, but as what the internet would like to perceive you as, which is a feminazi or fake feminist. Now before you believe I am against men paying for any of my meals, there is a very broad line between chivalry and a male or female being nice trying to leave a good impression and giving off a controlling behavior onto your partner forcing them to do a certain task or act a specific way because of their gender.
This form of behavior can parallel if men always asked the women to cook in the kitchen because she does not have the same genitalia as him. Wouldn't that be tiring and such an unfair task? Especially if you are a mother, have a job, or you are in school; or even all three. If you believe what I'm stating is more biased towards the interests of men and acknowledges the struggles of being a man, I am not. For I have further issues to address involving gender appointed norms.
If you are a female and have been told that since you are a girl that you aren't as strong as men are-- whether it is physically or mentally-- there is a big problem there. That comment alone sets in segregational ideals due to how your body is made up. Ponder this for a moment: if you are a female with a muscular build and a man who is quite smaller than you decides to get in a confrontation. You by a higher probability would most likely win because of your body structure, despite your sexual orientation. So in this case, you are the stronger gender. In which completely eliminating that there is a specific gender that has an advantage over one another involving strength.
Another shameful gender norm pinpoints how men are usually looked upon as the aggressors in domestic violence situations because of the way society looks at their strength and stature. Yet, I believe what most individuals need to realize is that women can abuse too. There is many cases in which the woman hurts the man and puts him in the hospital, yet social media doesn't cover these stories as much as they should.
This is due to people believing women are still the weaker more innocent sex. So whenever a woman gets hurt people acknowledge it immensely. People on social media also see women's abuse in a more positive light from what I have personally seen. For instance, there was an article stating that a woman cut off a man's genitalia due to cheating allegations. I will acknowledge some comments varied, but most females did encourage this behavior because the man apparently cheated.
Despite all of the social norms within society's dreadful grasps, I believe we can still find equality among the genders. We just need to break away from clutches of society's norms and identify to ourselves how would the other gender feel about what you are putting onto to them and how does reflect onto your gender. Start eliminating stereotypes and ethnocentric ideals and start pushing your to involve in tasks and mentally equalize yourself with the gender opposite of you. Nobody is better than you because with time and effort you can accomplish anything.
