Masculine Femininity

Since the beginning of time, men have been institutionalised to believe that they cannot express any emotion or signs of weakness due to fear of appearing "feminine."

Within the forever growing feminist movement, it is our duty to ensure equality to any gender, giving people the opportunity to express emotion just the same as anyone else. In recent times, there has been a large increase in strong female representation, whether that be in the media or in everyday life. However, the representation of femininity within men seems to be a topic that is far too often avoided. This has to change.

The typical representation of what people think it means to be a man is outdated and men are not being give the chance to show off any feminine aspects. Whether that be physically or emotionally. A huge number of men spend the majority of their life bottling up their problems and their feelings due to the fear of appearing "girly." This has become a huge problem within society, due to the most common cause of male deaths are those of suicide. This is because they are unable to talk about their feelings or being able to have necessary emotional outbursts. Figures have shown that in the UK, there is an average of 84 males who commit suicide per week. This is a devastatingly high number of suicides in just one week alone.

In this day and age, the idea of gender norms should be a blurred line or otherwise non-existent. Globally we have started to accept the disappearance of gender ideals, however it continues to be a slow process. But with the help of education, a rise in social influence and just being decent human beings, we have the power to change the world and its views on stereotypes and maybe together we can reduce the rate of suicide and insecurities. All we have to do is to start giving people a voice.

Thankfully, there already are a select few people that have a voice have managed to create a normality surrounding femininity as a whole. Whether that be vocally of physically, they have what it takes to defy the idea of how men should dress or how they should act. These people include Harry Styles, Matty Healy, and Jared Leto. These celebrity icons have pushed the boundaries of the word "feminine" by wearing nail varnish and experimenting with different makeup and hairstyles. A lot of appreciation has been showed regarding these celebs, as they have given the younger generation the ability to see femininity as a way of expression rather than a gender description.

Other celebrities Including Adele and Megan Fox have been second to cut the idealised meaning of femininity by dressing their sons on clothes they want to wear, rather than what their socially expected to wear. Megan and Adele's sons have often been spotted in dresses such as princess costumes and also having long hair. Similarly, Angelina Jolie has been allowing her daughter, Shiloh (12) experiment with a more masculine image, including cutting her hair and wearing clothes that don't show any specific gender focus.

This generation of celebrities have the voice and opportunity to really help bring up the next generation without giving them gender roles to fall into, which will hopefully seize gender ideology as a whole. By this time, women and men will have the opportunity to express themselves through their own image, without having to stay inside their gender specific boxes. Men especially will benefit from this growth, as they will no longer feel the need to withhold their feelings and emotions, because there will be no expectations or definition of "what makes them a man."