Monday, October 11, 2010
Rage against the world
The people who posted mostly were supportive, I got a few "likes" and a few inside jokes, but nothing huge. Probably my favorite of the facebook posts said, "I've decided I don't have enough anger for kickboxing." Taking up something like kickboxing would be par for course for me, so it wasn't a huge deal. That says a lot about me and about society. In fact, when we received the assignment to post about kickboxing, I immediately thought of the kickboxing aerobic classes I have taken in the past, (which were mostly attended by women). It is definitely empowering for women to step out of proscribed gender roles. On the flip side, I have seen it be empowering for men to step outside their societal role and admit that they love sewing or crocheting or painting their toenails. If they love it, they love it. Sometimes people will give them a hard time, but the men I know who have stepped outside of the male 'norm' have just owned the fact that they loved what they are doing. Eventually people catch on and are cool with it.
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5 comments:
I agree, women tend to get more support than men when they step outside their gender codes.
I think you are right, it all goes back to being more accepting and not judging. We could all be a little more accepting and when that happens gender roles don't matter that much.
i think you're right. your post reminded me of the male artist who was in the surf and skate culture. he named his work something on the lines of the "art of faggery." he sews, but because he persists and creates genuinely cool things it becomes acceptable. i think because he owns up to what he likes and knows that it will be perceived as gay, people can skip past gender codes and accept his work.
Maybe its not explicitly empowering for men to participate in women activities. But, I think men doing women things is empowering in the sense that they have the opportunity to spend time with women, talk with them, understand them, walk a mile in their shoes. And a man that understands women and their interests better is more empowered amongst both men and women. Knowledge is power. Whereas, women might feel empowered in the sense that they are partiicpating in men activities that used to be restricted from women. Maybe its also more of a physical empowerment.
I completely agree about the comment about aerobic kickboxing classes.. I would think that only guys that are really into kick boxing would actually be in that classes.
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