Jeffery Lamar Williams, popularly known as "Young Thug", released his highly anticipated album, “JEFFERY”, on the 16th of August. As expected the album has been critically acclaimed as one of his best works yet, however, what has people talking is not only his music, but his portrayal of himself, and particularly in this album, his artwork. He is clothed in a light blue dress, and has a cover over his head, without context his gender is ambiguous. This is Young Thug’s goal. On several occasions he has said that gender, as a social construct, does not exist.
I want to stress the importance of Young Thug’s conscious decision to divert from the hegemonic masculine ideals. Males have been fed this idea that there is a particular way to act and to hold themselves in a particular light, wearing feminine clothes, among other things, is not one of those. There has been so much emphasis on maintaining a masculine demeanor, to the point that if you don’t uphold these masculine “values” your sexuality will come into question. This is the case for Young Thug. His peers in the rap industry have questioned his sexuality, called him gay-- although he has a girlfriend--and his ex fiancé and others have spoke on his behalf. This should be expected from an institution that prides itself on being overtly masculine. Any slip up from a masculine demeanor and your sexuality will come into question. In the most literal sense, masculinity is homophobia.
On a more personal note, Young Thug’s decision to wear feminine clothes came at a young age, in a recent interview with Billboard, he explains his choice, “"When I was 12, my feet were so small I wore my sisters' glitter shoes, my dad would woop me: 'You're not going to school now, you'll embarrass us!' But I never gave a f**k what people think." Not only does this quote show the consequences of not adhering to the atypical male, it highlights the systematic issue. Young Thug’s father, in response to Young Thug wearing his sister’s shoes, uses violence, a masculine act and even goes to the point of not allowing him to go to school, to save their family from embarassment.
This type of interaction occurs all the time, a son does something “feminine”, in response to this, a parent will reinforce a masculine ideal, whether that is “rubbing some dirt on it” or in this case violence. There is too much emphasis on what a person wears, how physically tough someone is, how much emotion one shows, and the implications that these characteristics have. It is restricting, and causes men and women to question another mans’ sexuality for acting in a way that is perceived as feminine. The root of the mental health issue in regard to males is due to certain masculine ideals. Masculinity is centered on the idea of portraying yourself as stoic, showing no emotion and seeking absolutely no help, in fact, seeking help and showing emotion is a sign of weakness and is unbecoming of a man. This is one of, if not, the biggest issue with masculinity, men have no sense of their emotions, they have no idea how to deal with their emotions, most times they don’t seek help, and when they do seek help they have no way of expressing how their feeling.
Young Thug’s decision to defy gender norms is bold, and one that causes society as a whole to address the problems with the masculine ideals that are relayed from generation to generation.
