..and I was different.
"He is weird," said my seniors, tone redolent with mockery. And nicknames began. I have now lost count of the names. There are many, and it reached my home. My single mother was worried about who I was going to be. Though...
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Who has decided about what things are for what gender? This thing corresponds to boys and those things to girls, and how the criteria were set? What are the actual ground rules? Are we not allowed to break it? Are we supposed to be conservative forever? And the conservation in terms of making rules that we force others to obey too.
In the world, which is accepting the modern views where every person is respected, where insane ideas are working, where people are fighting for what they want to be, why are we still stuck on gender roles? Why do we assign certain roles to gender types?
I fear the risk to break stereotypes. I do. The fear attached is actually the criticism and the mockery people make out of it. In the world, where democracy is the new idea, having the right to have an opinion is okay: opinion about matters, opinion about issues, but not about people's choices on how they want to live their lives.
It's actually unfortunate that we have been so inconsiderate about the prevailing chains on gender roles. Why do pink has to be a womanly color? Is muscular body the male aspect? Why don't our boys cry? Why do we say cooking is what a woman do? Women have to stay home and if they work, men may feel intimidated. Men can't be house-husband, or they would be called 'sissy'.
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Both men and women suffer at the hand of the stereotypic boundaries. But who complains? Some with thick skins, who don't care about the criticism rock it, but people who are sensitive suffer greatly.
But why do we create boundaries? Isn't it advisable to let people fly according to their speed? Or maybe run, walk or crawl? Why do we confine people around? Have we taken all the things very lightly? I remember saying people don't think. They don't care, maybe. And the people who don't know the problem tend to be the reason of the elevation of the problem.
The reason I started scribbling this is because of the color stereotype, and in extension, the accessory or the fashion stereotype. Why does a certain color have to be the mark of a gender? I remember once being mocked about wearing a pink Tee-shirt.
I couldn't see the point in it, and it appeared dumber because it has come from people well educated in the best colleges of the city. What a pity it was to being given such quality education, and then, not being able to stop ourselves to succumb to stereotypes.
It's crucial for young people to realize the importance of breaking the chains. Who likes to be confined in chains? Maybe people who aren't brave. Maybe people who are adjusted to their chained view.
In this all, I couldn't help but wonder: how do we keep the risk flowing?
