A few days ago I happened upon a video that gave me one of those ‘Oh! I never thought about that’ moments. The video highlighted the effects of male gender roles being forced upon young men in America. It really made think about this other side of the gender inequality equation. I would argue that, in some ways, women have been able to overcome some of what men have not and, in turn, make what has been accomplished by women almost irrelevant. Now, I say this as pure opinion and want to stress that I, in no way, believe that the accomplishments women have made are irrelevant. My point lies in the fact that the gender roles forced upon men directly affect the stereotypes associated with women by reinforcing those roles and making it impossible for there to level playing field. As long as boys are bombarded by encouragements to “be a man”, even when girls are told that they can be anything, there can be no equality. It’s like a never-ending cycle; when women make great strides they are then easily undermined by a father somewhere telling his son to ‘stop crying like a girl’. —-Jenna Raleigh
Link to video: http://www.upworthy.com/theres-something-absolutely-wrong-with-what-we-do-to-boys-before-they-grow-into-men