If you are on social media I'm sure you heard the whole spectacle on Harry Styles 2020 vogue cover where Conservative Candace Owens decided to insert her two cents on the fact that Styles was wearing a dress.
"Bring back manly men."
However, millions of fans and celebrities clapped back on Owens for her misguided agenda, even Harry Styles simply captioned a picture, "Bring back manly men" with him in a pastel blue suit eating a banana.
This has been an ongoing debate for years where people have tried to dictate what men and women should wear and how they should act like in their gender; however, what is gender?
According to the Canadian Institute of Health Research, "Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people. It influences how people perceive themselves and each other, how they act and interact, and the distribution of power and resources in society. Gender identity is not confined to a binary (girl/woman, boy/man) nor is it static; it exists along a continuum and can change over time."
Here is the United States definition of gender also, "Gender refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed. This includes norms, behaviours and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy, as well as relationships with each other. As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time." Taken straight out of the World Health Organization.
Gender has always been the social concepts that humans decided to come up with to fill in the gaps of their own insecurities. For too long, people have felt constricted in this gender bubble that has not allowed people to break free in fear of retaliation. However, as we progress as a society and begin to be open-minded, even educated in such matters we are able to see the people who take the avenue to break these 'gender norms.'
In many cultures, dresses or skirts or even cloth that resembles a feminine attire is popular and resembles power and confidence. Don't let insecure men or insecure women dictate what you want to wear. Why are we scared to be creative or open? The United States prides itself in land of the free; however, if you want to be free gender-wise it is an abhorrence?
As we learned during this pandemic, life is too short to let someone scold you? Be free little birds and do so tactfully.
