And men are in the privileged position to do more against the patriarchal model. And what do we do? We say "men have it bad too!".
Yes but at least that is acknowledging the fact.
And I'm not saying that as a diversion, it is because I have personal experience of it.
It doesn't make sense for feminism that is supposed to mean equality between sexes to only acknowledge one side.
While placing all the blame on the other. We're all following the gender roles society has imposed on us.
And it's not like a baby boy comes out of the womb and is all like "oh yeah let's enforce some gender roles!"
Women and men alike teaches children to enforce them and it is only recently that it's become a trend to try and break those norms.
Well I'm lucky that I live in Sweden where people take this seriously.
And I dare to say no other country takes it as serious.
Recently a Toy company release their catalog with images of girls using typical boy toys and boys using girl toys.
Which people in the UK thought was crazy and I can't even begin to imagine what Americans would think.
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About obesity, I think it's sad that we're seeing a trend where some just give up and try accept their obesity as a good thing.
In the same way we see people being proud of being ignorant or uneducated, these are sometimes the same people.
I mean being an anorectic model is also bad for your health and a terrible ideal, but so is being proud of your obesity.
It makes me think the US is going in the completely wrong direction.
I mean here in Sweden we have health trends, eating right, exercising. Trends for gender equality, like dads staying at home with their kid and not trying to enforce gender roles with colors, language, toys for young children.
In the US you have trends for denying science, having as many guns as possible and denying that it's a danger, denying gay people, denying obesity as a problem, eating even more unhealthy junk food. Trends usually started by religious groups, companies or lobbies for a certain industry.
I am sorry, the 'male gaze' is not based on biological imperative, it's a cultural effect and it can be changed through awareness and positive action to that end.
I believe in a deterministic world and somehow we ended up with this kind of cultural effect.
At first there wasn't culture, only biology and through it culture arose, based on biology.
Of course it can be changed, but that might just be suppressing instincts and desires. Which everyone needs to do on some level to be a civilized person.
edit: By the way, we already have a pixel piledriver thread that covers the male gaze.. (and maybe every other thread too)
Can't we start a thread for the female gaze, with sexualized men? Or would everyone be too uncomfortable with that?
As artists we should be able to draw from both perspectives.