What are your definitions of "man" and "woman?"
A man is someone who identifies as such, and a woman is someone who identifies as such. This is different than male or female, which refers to “physical” gender.
Are there any specific gender roles that you think should be there? Are there any you wish did not exist?
Women should be the ones who breastfeed a child. Pretty self explanatory. Besides that, I don’t think there are many professions or gender roles that really need to be conformed to because there’s no specific reason for one sex to have a different set of expectations.
Do you conform to the society's gender expectations? Is there anything you do that is not usually associated with your gender? If you do conform, is it more because society expects you to or because you identify with the expectations?
I guess I conform to what my society expects, but not consciously. I do what I want, and that just happens to be acceptable under what society defines as gender roles for someone like me.
A lot of the time when it's socially acceptable for a man to expose his chest, a woman has to cover hers. Yet when it is socially acceptable for a woman to show her legs, arms, and cleavage (think dresses), the same is not acceptable for a man. What are your thoughts about these two situations?
It’s not only a double standard, it’s a double double standard. I think it’s a function of the more conservative times in our past (think 18-19th century) that women were expected to dress one way and men another. The difference of skin-baring begins with misogyny way, way back, when it became acceptable for women to show skin only because male society deemed it ok. More and more, women became independent, and some of that was wearing clothes that defied the norms of traditional society. At a point where men were on the top of society, they could have more gradual changes without outside pressure, but women didn’t have that same freedom. Now, there is also the question: what can we do about it today? I think following laws such as those in NYC, which allow women to be topless anywhere men are allowed to be without a shirt, are the first step. Ultimately, there’s no law against a man wearing a strapless dress, but society isn’t ready for that yet. That’s largely something that’s just going to have to change over time.
In many cases, women and girls are encouraged to embrace their masculine side, while feminine men and boys are looked down upon by society. What do you think about this? Why do you think femininity is seen as less than masculinity? How does this relate to discrimination in the workplace?
Femininity is valued less than masculinity because in today’s society, men are still the controlling gender (workplace included), even though they shouldn’t be. The two characteristics should be valued equally, and ultimately they can be done away with, as they are both subjective terms. Who gets to say what is feminine or masculine?
Is it important to make the world a more welcoming place for gender nonconforming people? If so, how can this be done?
Absolutely it’s important. Start with education at a young age about those who aren’t solidly a man or a woman. Other civic changes can be made: bathrooms, for example. The biggest obstacle is people who have an outside source, such as a certain upbringing, giving them the opposing side’s information. That is something that is very touchy to solve, but I think over time society can become more accepting.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
There’s a lot of misinformation about different sexual orientations and genders. Many people couldn’t tell you the difference between bisexual and pansexual, for example. I don’t know how, but that needs to change, whether it be through education or something else.
