Is the personal political?
Masculinity vs. Femininity
“Oh, stop being so emotional, is it that time of the month?” a man presumably the boyfriend asks his partner, as I walk through the hustle and bustle that is central London on the commute into university. Something pricks me about that statement, maybe more so because the male asked the question but ultimately, I think to myself ‘that’s not okay’. Why should the state of being hysterical or being flustered with emotion, be attributed to the female sex. By already making massive assumptions like this, the only direction is backwards, as a man, I can be extremely emotional at times, but tend to avoid showing any of this in public which already shows how indoctrinated I am myself by concepts of femininity and masculinity; Ghajarieh and Mozaheb allude to this stating that “people abide by varying degrees to the idealised socio cultural beliefs of femininity and masculinity.”
With this in mind, it’s so obviously clear that the personal is political, it’s inescapable. What’s up with these stupid impossible beauty standards? Adverts all affect us, we’re human beings not rocks void of emotion (sorry rocks), but advertising is very much in the control of the political spectrum, for example the horrific pictures they put on smoking packets; so when are we going to address this? In this respect when we start to look at personal issues that go hand in hand with the political spectrum you would imagine there should be a cohesive unit fighting for change together. It is comforting to see the use of technology in this stage of fourth feminism, and in many ways the Internet has proven a means for unity.
Ironic isn’t it? (Body standards, just saying).
Do we live in a patriarchal society? Let’s think about it, has there ever been a female president in the USA? Well Trump certainly took care of that, and the Office for National Statistics in the UK, states that “men have consistently higher employment rates than women above the age of 22” and occupations “within the highest paid category of managers, directors and senior officials, within this latter category around a third (33%) was female in April to June 2013”. There are also clear cut divisions within the actual workforce with some areas being more male-dominated, this, in effect makes it difficult to really unite together because there are divisions everywhere. But come on, lads you can cry as much as you want #effpatriarchy.
Sooo…political IS personal -insert eyeroll-
Personal is political, let’s get real here, if something affects us not just as individuals but as groups eg. Black movements, well, government that means you gots to get off your arse and do something about it and this adjoins us to the mystical realm that is politics.
If you don’t want to be oppressed that also means move your arse too! Never utter the words that’s not fair if you aren’t willing to stand up together and ‘man up’ (ha).
