Friday 17 July 2015

Body Confidence, Feminism, Gender Stereotypes, Etc...

This morning, as I was lay in bed, watching YouTube videos and avoiding my responsibilities, I stumbled across a video which I thought was really interesting (links will be at the end of this post). I've been thinking since then about all of the issues surrounding the topics in the title. 
Now, as I'm sipping flat Pepsi, I'm going to attempt to write down my thoughts surrounding these things... 

First, let's go with feminism. That word has been used a lot recently, and I don't know if some people are entirely sure of it's meaning. 
Feminism: (noun) the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.


Yep, there we go. It is about being equal, about having rights. The feminist movement can be portrayed as a bad thing, particularly on social media (e.g. Tumblr), but it really isn't. Feminism is such an important thing. I am 16 years old, and I see this. I see the need for a female to become equal to a male (because, well, we are all equal, right?)

In my life, I am aiming to become a sound engineer (live sound, audio engineer, roadie, etc.) and that is a profession that is entirely male-dominated. I have been to around 20 gigs in a year and a half, and not once have I seen a female sound engineer. If I want to make it, and fulfil my dreams, I need things to change. I need feminism. 



My favourite quote surrounding feminism is; "If you're not a feminist, you're a c**t" Jono Yates, Blitz Kids). It seems really harsh, but I feel that it is true.


Relating to feminism is the idea that women wear makeup, or dress up just to impress men? Like, no. I can only speak for myself regarding this, but I don't wear much makeup, just a bit (well, a lot) of eyeliner and some mascara. This is all I feel I need to feel confident in myself. Other people wear a lot more, e.g. foundation, to cover things they're insecure about, like maybe acne.

So many females (and some males) wear makeup for themselves. That is all. And we shouldn't have to feel pressured into wearing makeup or have to apologise when we don't wear makeup.

Leading from this, is the idea that young girls need to wear makeup, to look 'pretty' or 'attractive'. I was watching a video this morning entitled "How to get perfect skin for school" which seems innocent enough. It started off with cleansers and removing makeup, all of that simple stuff. But then the vlogger was saying 'foundation is great' etc. I don't know why i'm calling this up, but you don't need to wear foundation to look perfect, just be true to yourself. 

In the example of myself, again, I have only ever worn foundation once, and that was to my prom. Otherwise, I just don't see the point, it takes too much time, and doesn't really seem to do much for me, since I have pretty good skin, apart from the odd spot (or, like ten, recently..). But again, it's just how you feel most confident. 


Now for body confidence.. I see so many people complaining about their bodies, saying "oh, I'm so fat, cry, cry..." And this is because of the media, saying we should be stick-thin to be happy. I'm 'lucky' in the sense that I'm naturally slim, and have a fast metabolism, but sometimes it sucks because clothes never fit me right, they're always too big in some way (usually my jeans are too big around my hips..), and at gigs, because I'm so light, I get pushed around and jostled more than I'd like. I've been brought up in an environment where I am never shamed for my body, and no one in my family diets or obsessively exercises. I don't feel pressure from my awesome friends to lose weight. 

I feel that this relates back to feminism, and halts the forward movement of the movement, because we are told we should look a certain way to please men, to be attractive. It is so wrong. 

We should be taught self-respect, and we should not be forced to live in a world where we are shamed for being who we are. The media sucks. 


Finally, gender stereotypes. They are the worst. As I mentioned previously, my life goal is to be a sound engineer, or a roadie, which is a very male-dominated career. Understandably, of course, because you need to lug heavy gear around a lot, and men are just strong.. BUt then, that's gender stereotyping, because women can be hella strong.. For example, my sister does trapeze, and she is crazy strong.. So it's not just the men.. 

And then there are things like you must shop in the female section of a shop, if you're female. Like, hell no? You have the entire shop to find a perfect outfit. I'm a good example of this.. I wear guy's clothes, like, a lot. Basically all of my t-shirts are guy's shirts (brought by me, I don't just steal random men's shirts...) because they're band shirts, and because I'm tall, men's shirts just fit me better.. 

What I think I'm trying to say in this terribly worded post that I started writing months ago, is, we should not let our gender define us. We are who we are, regardless or gender, or race or religion, or anything else that we feel may set us apart. I think it's time we all realised this, and stopped shaming people for who they are, or being the way that they are.

I'll leave you with a quote from Enter Shikari, and the link to the video I was talking about at the start of this post.. 
"Look back to the past
We hail from one caste
The division will not last

Defined by your kin
Forget we share a kin
We're torn apart"
- Rou Reynolds, in Torn Apart

And the video is here (click the word here, it should work!) , and it will open in a new window for you.. Louise/SprinkleOfGlitter is so inspiring to me, because she seems so lovely, and positive, and she encourages young girls to love themselves.. I had a peek in her book the other day, and there are so many lovely things, including how to accept yourself.. I really love it!!
Okay that's all for now.. 

Bye!!
- Dottie. 

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