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| @ Dainis Graveris |
Written by Lara Brent (she/her) for The Rising Womxn Zine
For many decades now, we have had to listen to gender stereotypes that put women down and make us feel small and insignificant in comparison to males. There have been many sweeping generalisations about how we should look, act and dress which do nothing but diminish our self-worth and make us feel worthless in a world dominated by men. Well - it is about time that this all comes to a halt. Women are beautiful, powerful humans who deserve the right to do what they want to do without be ridiculed or laughed at first. We have put together some tips on how to push past these gender roles in a positive way to ensure that you can feel empowered rather than put down within society!
We have often been told that we are weak and fragile which therefore makes us unable to apply to senior roles, or more ‘manly’ jobs because of the gender that we identify as. However, this isn’t the case. Just because some women are smaller in stature and don’t carry as much body weight about with them, it doesn’t mean that they are weak and therefore insignificant. Oh no. In fact, we can use this to our advantage by putting our strength into our voices and our actions instead. We may be small in size, but our minds are powerful, and we can make the change we want to see as long as we stand up to our peers who try to put us down. How we look isn’t what matters, it’s the skills that we have learnt over the years that are what count. I mean sure, in some jobs you do need brute strength to be able to fix a car or build a house for example, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t capable of training our bodies so that we can do those things just as successfully (if not more so) as our male counterparts. So, by not backing down in the face of confrontation and by believing in ourselves we can show the men in our lives who’s the real boss and just what we are capable of when we put our minds to it.
Another stereotype that I hear far too often is about how sensitive women are and how we let our emotions cloud our judgements, but this doesn’t have to be a negative accusation. Emotions are a healthy part of being a human, they are what help us to realise what we care about and help us to share with others how we feel in a particular moment. It has been ingrained into males for so long that emotions are a sign of weakness and, honestly, I feel sorry for them. Hiding emotions can be so damaging which is why I think it is important that we let ourselves be emotional within any situation. Being emotional doesn’t mean hysterically crying all the time, it could just mean being super passionate about the latest project that you’re working on or laughing really loud at a corny joke. Emotions aren’t a sign of weakness and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Use your emotions to your strength and show the world how powerful you are because you know how to use and control your emotions in a positive way.
The final stereotype that I will touch upon is being told how we should dress. With most of the fashion houses being owned by males it is not surprising that most clothes we buy and own were made to please the male gaze. This is something that I personally find aggravating to the point where I no longer seek any sort of validation from men on how I look because I don’t care if they think my new floral dress is cute or if they don’t like my bright, sunshine yellow, converse. I don’t dress for anyone other than myself and I think that is why I feel empowered the majority of the time. My wardrobe is full of outfits that bring me joy and I think that that is so important. Bringing items of clothing into your life that you feel comfortable in, not ones that a man has told you that you would look good in, is so important because it helps you to define who you are and find your own personality through clothing. Therefore, I encourage you to go out of your way to find the items that you love over the items that the high street stores are trying to sell to you. Find female-owned businesses that make custom clothing that fit you perfectly and make you feel confident whilst also helping out smaller businesses. By uniting together within fashion (as well as other industries) we can show the world just how powerful we can be.
So much of what we are told or have learnt within society is clouded by male judgement and it causes us, as females, to lose ourselves under the pressures of male standards. Women are so incredibly powerful and as long we hold on to that power and find our inner love and respect, we will be unstoppable. Pay no attention to what others have to say because at the end of the day, as long as you are happy, and you are doing what you love to do then that is all that matters. Wear those bright pink combats with the matching baby pink tutu; dye your hair dark purple with blue highlights; become the best plumber in your business. Whatever makes you happy is all that matters. Don’t stop being the incredible woman you were born to be. Stereotypes are just stereotypes. They have no real value behind them, no fact or truth, and so as long as we are happy within ourselves then that is all that counts.
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