Take a thorough look at the picture. Who is this pretty little girl?
This is Franklin D. Roosevelt at six or seven years old.
In the late 19th it was the norm for American Children to get their first haircut round about this age and to be dressed in plain white clothing. That way, it could easily be washed and easily inherited from one sibling to the next. Century, it was the norm for American children
This was it until World War one. The colours pink and blue for children came much later and are a marketing invention to sell more. Then again, pink was promoted for boys since it was perceived as more firm and strong rather than blue. Blue was seen as delicate and more pretty for a girl. In 1927, Time published an article about gender-suited colors and parents were advised to dress boys in pink.
It is not the first time while roaming the streets we encounter someone who is dressed differently and label that person as occupying the liminal space between male and female or as being someone different. But what is normal? How can one label himself or herself normal and label someone else as different? Why is there a them and us?
“Women wear pants. Let men wear skirts.” According to conventions we create, a woman is not perceived as less feminine because she wears trousers. Hence, why is a man perceived less masculine if he wears a skirt?
If people are not different, the world might turn into “one big assortment of clones” so one ought not to label people who dress differently. Very often people claim they want to be or are different yet they still form part of hegemony.
The battle of what defines man and woman has been battled on by philosophers, scientists and others who seek to fight and perhaps shake off this taboo. Do masculinity and femininity really exist? Or is it, rather a perception which has been dictated to us by the culture and society we are placed in upon birth? A man is no longer defined by how "macho’ he is. Females are not defined by how girly they appear. Unlike what took place in the Victorian era, the woman is no longer expected to submit to the male. According to social stereotypes, common adjectives to describe the female are: timid, graceful, quiet and full of emotion. The man, on the other hand would be best described as tough, strong, competitive and independent. Society is unrealistic. In Western culture, in particular it is accepted that men and women possess other’s traits. We are more alike than we actually would like to admit.
Coco Chanel, a major fashion icon challenged the gender stereotype of women in skirts. She was often sneered at because she chose to wear trousers and masculine clothing rather than the feminine attire promoted by the French upper classes of society. She was more interested in simple clothing that captured a woman’s natural beauty rather than over-stated hats and dresses that made a woman feel like a manikin on display.
In the case of men and skirts, I am definitely sure that at a night out at the club they will attract the same amount of women if not more than a man who wears trousers. Moreover this does not mean they are of a different sexual orientation than what society and culture promotes.
All in all, “we’re not men and women, we’re people.” Under the flesh, we all have a heart that looks more or less the same as that of the person next to you which pumps blood that, despite gender differences and culture is red.
