Feminism is defined as 'the theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes'. The misconception is that this is a movement just for women, that its sole concern is advancing the marginalised position of women in a "man's world". You wouldn't be entirely wrong, but the simple fact is that patriarchal social structures effect both men and women in society. As such, both sexes need feminism to repeal these structures so that they are truly equal and free.
Patriarchy literally means "rule of the father". It implies explicitly that men are superior to women: men rule, women serve. This has further fuelled the idea that men and women are intrinsically, biologically different to one another; that the sexes are awarded different traits along with different genitalia. In this view, our gender is predetermined: masculine traits belong solely to men and vice versa. Such a notion has not only shaped all of human history--depicting men as "natural" leaders with strength and wisdom, demeaning women as weak, foolish, and over-emotional--it has also shaped the social and political structures in which we live today. But these notions are not only wrong: they're damaging to men and women alike.
The most obvious way in which these notions harm society is in the pressures they put on young men and women to conform to certain behavioural norms and, increasingly, body archetypes. It gives us a strict criteria to which we must adhere in order to be "normal", or indeed "perfect", men and women.
We're all well affiliated with the pressures put on young women by the mainstream media and society at large. We bombard girls with fake, photoshopped images of unattainable female bodies; we then apply an unhealthy rhetoric encouraging women to lose weight, look sexy and please their man (I nod blatantly and disdainfully to the "Trends Men Hate" phenomenon that has recently circulated the Internet). The result is quite disturbing: a generation of image-obsessed girls, trying to fit these impossible benchmarks. Just to illustrate the point, the Health & Social Care Information Centre in the UK reported in January 2014 that young women, around the age of 15, made up 91% of hospital admissions as a result of eating disorders.
Less often considered is the harmful effect that the same pressures have on young men. A few days ago TIME magazine posted an interesting article which highlighted similar health issues amongst men caused by the promotion of a "perfect" body archetype in the mainstream media.
Indeed, there is a concerted effort to rebut these pressures with regard to young women. In a lot of instances these efforts take place on the Internet within a wide array of social media and other sources. But they also exist in the mainstream domain, where the aforementioned cultural norms are typically enforced rather than rebutted. Take, for example, UK department store Debenhams' 'diversity in fashion' campaign which 'turns its back on the industry norm of young thin models' by including a variety of body types in their catalogues, including a size 18 swimsuit model, a Paralympic athlete and a 70 year old female model. The push back is slow and arduous, but social change always is. The point is that it is happening.
Patriarchy literally means "rule of the father". It implies explicitly that men are superior to women: men rule, women serve. This has further fuelled the idea that men and women are intrinsically, biologically different to one another; that the sexes are awarded different traits along with different genitalia. In this view, our gender is predetermined: masculine traits belong solely to men and vice versa. Such a notion has not only shaped all of human history--depicting men as "natural" leaders with strength and wisdom, demeaning women as weak, foolish, and over-emotional--it has also shaped the social and political structures in which we live today. But these notions are not only wrong: they're damaging to men and women alike.
The most obvious way in which these notions harm society is in the pressures they put on young men and women to conform to certain behavioural norms and, increasingly, body archetypes. It gives us a strict criteria to which we must adhere in order to be "normal", or indeed "perfect", men and women.
We're all well affiliated with the pressures put on young women by the mainstream media and society at large. We bombard girls with fake, photoshopped images of unattainable female bodies; we then apply an unhealthy rhetoric encouraging women to lose weight, look sexy and please their man (I nod blatantly and disdainfully to the "Trends Men Hate" phenomenon that has recently circulated the Internet). The result is quite disturbing: a generation of image-obsessed girls, trying to fit these impossible benchmarks. Just to illustrate the point, the Health & Social Care Information Centre in the UK reported in January 2014 that young women, around the age of 15, made up 91% of hospital admissions as a result of eating disorders.
Less often considered is the harmful effect that the same pressures have on young men. A few days ago TIME magazine posted an interesting article which highlighted similar health issues amongst men caused by the promotion of a "perfect" body archetype in the mainstream media.
Let us take a minute to reflect on the findings: increased depression amongst young males, high-risk behaviours (such as substance abuses), eating disorders, obsessive work-out routines, and the use of steroids, which can also have psychological effects. Though young boys make up only 9% of the overall admissions to hospital as a result of eating disorders, as reported by the HSCIC, they still contribute to a rise of 8% in such admissions since 2012. A further point of interest, as TIME notes, is that 18% of boys are worried about their weight: 15% are concerned with thinness and 50% are concerned with muscularity. So whilst young women arguably have a worse experience regarding these societal pressures, they affect young men too.
The trickiness of addressing these issues is that the pressures that young men face are often not noticed or brushed aside, and this is because of the extent to which gender norms are entrenched within our society. "Machismo", defined as strong or aggressive masculine pride, is prominent in the media but also in regular social situations. Young men are aggrieved by the need to prove themselves as masculine or face ridicule; to show emotion is considered negatively "feminine". In a recent article for the BBC, Johnny Benjamin (notable for his 'Find Mike' campaign, searching for the stranger who stopped him from committing suicide in 2008) highlights that three times as many men as women commit suicide every year, and places the blame squarely on society's habit of forcing men to conform to an unnatural image of robust emotionlessness: 'Perhaps we need to redefine the meaning of masculinity, stop telling males to "man up", and start showing them that grown men do actually cry.' I quite agree, and I would suggest that feminism is the answer.
It is generally agreed within feminist theory (and I say that somewhat tentatively, not wishing to white-wash feminist theorists) that there is a clear distinction between sex and gender. Sex refers explicitly to unchangeable biological differences, for example the ability for women to become pregnant or men to produce semen. Gender, however, is purely a cultural term. Society ascribes different social roles to men and women, citing biology as the reason, but there's no logical basis for this assumption (Heywood, 2007). To quote Simone de Beauvoir, 'one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman' (Beauvoir, 1973:301). To distinguish between the two is to disallow the attribution of values or social functions to women and men alike purely on the basis of their sex, nor is it possible to 'refer meaningfully to natural or unnatural gendered behaviour: all gender is, by definition, unnatural' (Butler, 1986). In this way, feminism frees both sexes from the yoke of a gender-normative obsessed society. The trickiness of addressing these issues is that the pressures that young men face are often not noticed or brushed aside, and this is because of the extent to which gender norms are entrenched within our society. "Machismo", defined as strong or aggressive masculine pride, is prominent in the media but also in regular social situations. Young men are aggrieved by the need to prove themselves as masculine or face ridicule; to show emotion is considered negatively "feminine". In a recent article for the BBC, Johnny Benjamin (notable for his 'Find Mike' campaign, searching for the stranger who stopped him from committing suicide in 2008) highlights that three times as many men as women commit suicide every year, and places the blame squarely on society's habit of forcing men to conform to an unnatural image of robust emotionlessness: 'Perhaps we need to redefine the meaning of masculinity, stop telling males to "man up", and start showing them that grown men do actually cry.' I quite agree, and I would suggest that feminism is the answer.
Indeed, there is a concerted effort to rebut these pressures with regard to young women. In a lot of instances these efforts take place on the Internet within a wide array of social media and other sources. But they also exist in the mainstream domain, where the aforementioned cultural norms are typically enforced rather than rebutted. Take, for example, UK department store Debenhams' 'diversity in fashion' campaign which 'turns its back on the industry norm of young thin models' by including a variety of body types in their catalogues, including a size 18 swimsuit model, a Paralympic athlete and a 70 year old female model. The push back is slow and arduous, but social change always is. The point is that it is happening.
However, the rebuttal for men under the same pressures is virtually non-existent. Perhaps it is because we do simply say "man up" to our young men. Even when the media tries to redefine the gender roles forced onto women by creating a "strong" female character, it tends to do this by making her typically masculine. This suggests that the only way women can be free of their assigned gender role is to be like a man, and it is a regressive ploy because it further entrenches the idea that masculinity is superior to femininity; it implies to men and women alike that to display typically feminine traits is bad, and so the cycle in which both, but particularly men, are forced to conform continues.
What is needed, therefore, is a further emphasis that it is perfectly ordinary for both men and women to exhibit traditionally feminine traits. That it's okay to express emotion. Perhaps the answer is to promote androgyny (the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics) as a normal human condition. But whichever way such a goal can be achieved, whether it be through the media or grassroots awareness-raising, feminism is the primary vehicle for achieving it because it is the only social and political movement that allows us to entertain such a notion.
Sources
BBC News. (2014). Is macho culture causing young men to take their own lives? Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26543095 (Accessed: 14th March 2014).
Butler, J. (1986). "Sex and Gender in Simone de Beauvoir's Second Sex", Yale French Studies, 72, pp. 35-49.
De Beauvoir, S. (1973). The Second Sex. New York: Vintage Books.
Debenhams Blog. (2014). Debenhams shows diversity in fashion. Available at: http://blog.debenhams.com/debenhams-shows-diversity-in-fashion/fashion/ (Accessed: 11th March 2014).
Dockterman, E; TIME. (2014). How movies like "300" are warping the self image of boys and men. Available at: http://time.com/19908/300-rise-of-an-empire-has-men-feeling-body-image-pressure/ (Accessed: 11th March 2014).
Health and Social Care Information Centre. (2014). Provisional Monthly Topic of Interest: Eating Disorders. Available at: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB13478/prov-mont-hes-admi-outp-ae-April%202013%20to%20October%202013-toi-rep.pdf (Accessed: 11th March 2014).
Heywood, A. (2007). Political Ideologies: An Introduction, 4th Edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
