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Gender Issues
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| Yes | 88% | 114 votes | Total: 129 votes | |
| No | 12% | 15 votes |
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Add to FavoritesGender most assuredly has an influence on lifestyle. It always has and always will. Forget the historical debates, look at the reality. If you go to a public beach, a man without a shirt is not questioned, a woman without a shirt is arrested for indecent exposure. A woman who goes out to dinner with her makeup applied and hair curled and sprayed is viewed as beautiful, a man with makeup on in public is viewed as a freak. A man and a woman holding hands in public is viewed as a gentle display of affection, whereas two men or two women holding hands in public is viewed by some as an offense. The list could go on. There are simply some areas where equality will never be achieved.
How many clothing stores do not differentiate between "men's" and "women's"? Even stores that sell "unisex" clothing (jeans, t shirts, pullovers) have clothing sized to fit men, women and children. In the personal care section of the store, there are men's deodorants and women's deodorants, mens hair care products and womens hair care products, mens body wash and womens body wash. Even at our earliest age, our baby diapers are divided into boys and girls. There is nothing wrong with these distinctions. It goes to the most basic of human facts - men and women are put together differently! We have differing physical characteristics that require different cuts of clothing, different types of hair and body care products. The advertisers are well aware of this fact. A familiar product that comes to mind is Old Spice. I know it's been around as long as I have, because I remember my dad using it when I was just a small child. Just how long do you think it would have lasted in a pink box with a bow on it? How many women do you know who enjoy its fragrance, but actually use it? What about Miss Clairol hair color? Just how many guys brag about what natural color they have from its use?
Equality is a great concept. But gender diversity is a better one. I, for one, am glad that my gender has an influence on my lifestyle. I'm all for women having equal pay in the workplace, and equal opportunity to go after any job that they have the ability to perform. However, I honestly think that I can wait forever to see the Victoria Secret model with a full beard and chest hair! True physical equality is not possible. Men are physically designed to have a stronger musculature, and have the reproductive faculties to father children, not carry them and give birth to them. Women are physically designed to have a more diminutive musculature, with the reproductive faculties to carry and nurture a fetus until birth, then physically can care for that newborn through breast feeding. Men can't do that. And if they want the menstrual periods (with their "sanitary napkins", bloating, cramps, etc), menopause, ill-fitting bras, 4 inch heels that kill your back, and all the other gender specific things we women have that they don't, they can be my guest! I'll trade for having to shave, and what else?
The male human was designed to be a protector and provider, genetically. The female human was designed to be a nurturer and caregiver, genetically. Therefore, gender will always have an influence on lifestyle, albeit not in the severity of previous generations as the areas in which equality are viable become more open.
Learn more about this author, Margaret Hudson.
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No
When it comes to gender, there is no denying that it has some influence over our lives. From the moment we're born, we are dressed by our parents in either pink or blue, and every step forward from that point on follows the societal gender binary code; you're a boy or you're a girl, and there are two different sets of expectations for both. But does gender have influence over our very lifestyles? I would have to say no, it doesn't. If it does, it's only because we choose to limit ourselves by it.
It's very easy to get caught up in the differences between the genders, as that there are multitudes of them. After all, the bra was not invented with men in mind, nor were jock straps created for the use of women. These things were designed with a definite gender difference in mind, to better suit the needs of the two opposite physical forms. But to allow something as base as clothing options to dictate your choice of lifestyle strikes me as ridiculous and overly simplistic. Society may unquestioningly allow me to wear a skirt, but that same skirt does not dictate what I can and cannot do.
This is not to gloss over the very real differences between men and women in regards to stature and function, nor is to deny the differences in experiences faced by the two. There are physical and mental differences between the sexes, and they are not to be ignored. However, the fact that I came with two X chromosomes does not dictate the choices I have made in regard as to how I live my life. What's more, I believe it never should.
For example, when it came to following my dream of writing for a living, my gender was not a mitigating factor in making that choice, nor did gender effect my decision to make traveling regularly an important aspect of my life. Gender has nothing to do with the fact that I feel deep satisfaction from restoring my 1962 Ross bicycle to its former glory, nor does dictate my ongoing attempts to master photography. In fact, the only times I can recall that gender has ever exerted any kind of influence on my life has been when those who have chosen to live their lives a bit more closely to the traditional gender roles have deliberately tried to steer me in that direction. In my experience, it's much more of an external influence than an internal one.
The way I see it, one of the loftiest and most deeply treasured of humankind's goals is to utilize your potential - whatever that potential may be - to the fullest. Nowhere in that sentiment is there the caveat of "as long as it pertains to your gender"; it's a wide-open field, allowing each of us the freedom to pursue our interests, goals and dreams. To limit our pursuit of such things based on the matter of gender is to cheat ourselves out of becoming our best version of ourselves, and that's a path that has never lead to personal happiness or fulfillment.
Gender may instruct various basic facets of our lives, but gender only influences how we choose to live our lives if we allow it to. Anatomy is not destiny; we are more than the sum of our parts, and to limit ourselves based on gender is to deny our true potential.
Learn more about this author, Rose Calder.
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