What are your definitions of "man" and "woman?"
Man - someone who has male body parts
Woman – someone who has female body parts
Are there any specific gender roles that you think should be there? Are there any you wish did not exist?
No as far as I can see gender roles are outdated and unnecessary. And as for the one’s I wish did not exist, I think it is unfair that society more or less accepts when an older man is in a relationship with a younger woman but when an older woman dates a young man it’s frowned upon. Also if a guy is promiscuous then that makes him “cool” but if a girl is promiscuous then she’s a “slut”. Those are the gender roles that I feel are most prevalent currently.
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 can’t deny that I do, I cook (on occasion), clean, look after my younger brother, grocery shop and I would much rather a guy ask me out than actually just ask him myself. But I am also my mom’s go-to person is she needs something to be built or fixed, a lot of the time. And although I do care about my appearance, it doesn’t rule my life. I conform because I want to please my parents and so I do what they tell me to do (the majority of the time) and when I have children I would expect them to do the same things I do now regardless of their gender.
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?
I have often thought about this, and it seems rather silly once you really think about it. I think gradually society will grow more comfortable with exposing the human body and I’m sure there are some parts of the world where both men and women show the same amount of skin. At the end of day the male and female anatomy is pretty similar, seeing a woman’s breasts is nothing new, ever since we were born we’ve seen them so it seems peculiar that as we grow older and become more “mature” we have to cover more. We think it’s normal because that’s what we’re used to but can you imagine covering a tree trunk because it’s too “exposed”.
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?
I think this dates back to hunting and gathering days where the men had to be strong, fast in order to support his family. And nowadays women are able to provide for themselves, women are more empowered than ever and so there is no space for too much femininity.
Is it important to make the world a more welcoming place for gender nonconforming people? If so, how can this be done?
I think that the world just needs to be more welcoming to differences in general and we should learn to not just tolerate diversity but to celebrate it. I think people just need to be more open minded.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I like to think that someday in the future people will look back and find it strange how intolerant we are now because they will be so much more accepting than we are. This may just be a fantasy, but a girl can dream.
