A great New York Times Opinion Piece by Charles M. Blow about gender norms:
“And it’s no better for little boys, who are constantly admonished to suck it up, toughen up, don’t cry, be a man, and don’t run, hit or kick like a girl. We plant seeds of misogyny, often without being aware of it, while our boys are still sprouts. And then we wonder why so many men are emotionally suppressed and stunted. It’s because we’ve been telling them all their lives that emotions were effeminate and femininity was a curse.
We build zombie men and lament the dearth of “real” ones.
Yet some still bemoan our current atmosphere as “feminized” — a rhetorical construction that in and of itself is misogynistic because it establishes femininity as a lesser, undesirable expression — rather than understanding that femininity and masculinity aren’t strictly gendered and their expressions not rigidly conveyed.
Our current turn toward tolerance for sexual identities and gender expressions isn’t about more people being less of a man or woman, but about more people feeling safe to be more wholly human. And it’s about freedom — freedom of expression, freedom of self-determination and freedom of fluidity.”
Check out the whole article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/13/opinion/blow-bossy-pants.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article
I have seen a number of fathers tell their sons to suck it up. What a blow to a small person’s soul.