Men in Training

Males are generally free. The apparent characteristics and attributes of being a man were more freely given to them to experience, early on. When they were younger, there was more appreciation and less censure in emulating these traits. In fact, there is general pride with a boy who is starting to be like a grown-up ‘man.’ Maleness is a source of dignity and honor.

I wanted to make this balanced, and feature ‘women in training’ as well. But in the process of thinking up images, and consequently looking for pictures to depict the thought, I get to conclude that the concept of ‘women in training’ is largely based on such notions as “don’t,” “can’t,” “shouldn’t,” and the like, thus putting them in the realm of ‘inappropriate,’ ‘obscure,’ even ‘taboo.’ Women simply take less, even if they, in no way, are less, do less, or give less.

When society decided to be more colorful and descriptive, the only two sexes of male and female became the concepts of masculine (strong and brave, aggressive, provider, etc.) and feminine (weak, demure, nurturer, etc.). Society went a few more steps ahead and gave birth to the prescriptive notions of “be a man” and “act like a woman.” There, too, are the psychologically reverse admonitions (and self-esteem crushers) of “not manly enough” and “so unladylike.”

Our parents gave the world only male and female, but society gave us the masculine man and the feminine woman (and all other cross-combinations thereof). And since our parents are children of society themselves, they didn’t know better than to make us live in a world where gender rules. So, baby blankets have been blue for boys and pink for girls.

Our parents were the ones who demarcated our future freedoms and made us “weak” (frail, fragile, feeble, etc.) or “strong” (forceful, hardy, unbending, etc.). They handed down to us their definitions of the stereotypes and the pertinent parameters of these stock categories), as much as their own parents made them turn out the way they did. The potential for freedom and equality starts from the home.

So long as there are parents of children and children who would be parents, there won’t be any cultural revolution regarding this gender trend. It is so buried deep down in humanity’s collective psyché that an overhaul will probably come only way after all our lifetimes put together.

Since gender is a product of society and culture, social conditioning breeds gender inequality.