Tag: men

Why Can’t Boys Have Long Hair?

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Photo Credit: Pinterest

If you read almost any dress code guideline, whether for school or for the workplace, an everlasting rule is that males must have short, groomed hair.

But why?

Obviously there are many double standards, both in the dress code and the real world. But many of these double standards apply to females, policing how much skin they can show or how much makeup they can wear, making sure they don’t “distract” others. These must be addressed, and they often are, even if no changes come from it.

But, many don’t address the fact that males aren’t allowed (whether in society, school, or work) to express themselves, and this goes much farther than just hair. It is considered outside of the societal norm for men to have long hair, earrings, wear “girly” clothing, or express themselves emotionally. If they present themselves in an effeminate way, they are considered inferior or mocked – called “girly” as though that’s an insult, or told that only females can only act certain ways and wear certain things, and vice versa. The reality is, both men and women have emotions and feelings, both want to express themselves, and they should be able to express and present themselves in any way they want. This something that society as a whole has to address and accept.

The Gender Pay Gap

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You’ve heard the rumors about feminists, the “Man-Haters”.

But the worst is when anti-feminists begin to discredit real issues, for example, the pay gap.

According to the US Census Bureau women earn 78-cents to the white mans dollar, and this is just white women. It becomes less and less through the races.

In case you are having issues visualizing this, take a look at this data provided by salary research company pay scale.

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Let’s look at how this works out in some other cases.

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This chart comes from the research organization AAUW.

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This is a graph from the US Bureau of Labor.

At this point you may think, “yeah, but like, women take maternity leave and don’t get into as many high paying industries.”

Even if all of these factors were taken away, women would still only make between 93-95% of what men would, according to CONSAD’s analysis. Sexism at its finest, folks.

So yeah, unless us “man haters” control the government and world-renowned research organizations, it’s a pretty real thing.

 

Super Scary (and Sexist) Halloween Costumes

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When I was little, I’d play dress up. I’d put on my mother’s beige heels or my sister’s prom dress and strut around my room like it was a runway.

I’d wear a pink tutu and make a crown out of yellow construction paper and draw little jewels with magenta and green crayons.

I could spend hours and hours just frolicking around my room; trying on this shirt or pretending to be that Disney princess.

Even though my dress up days have passed, there is still one occasion where I can relive one of my favorite elementary school pastimes.

Halloween – It’s the day where the ghosts, ghouls, and zombies come out to play. Where you can be whoever you want to be, without judgement. It’s a time to live in a fantasy for a day.

When I was little I’d jump for joy knowing I could wear my princess or witch costume to school, and the incoming candy overstock I’d have after trick-or-treating.

Now that I’m older, I’m just excited for the excuse to dress up for a day. I’ve noticed that it’s becoming harder and harder to find a costume I like, and for one big reason: women’s Halloween costumes are hypersexualized.

Now, this may not come as a surprise to some of you. You’ve been through the struggle of picking out a costume. Whether it be you couldn’t choose just what you wanted to be or you couldn’t find the perfect costume for who you wanted to be.

For women, finding an appropriate costume takes another ounce of effort. I’ve found that once you grow out of child sizes and into teenage or adult sizes, that the dresses don’t really grow much longer.

If you go onto any major costume store, such as Party City, you can see just how true this is. There are very few costumes for women that don’t contain one of the following: little tutus, corsets, skin-tight body suits, or above mid-thigh skirts.

Now, some women like wearing these costumes, and I see nothing wrong with that. But, the problem is for the women who don’t want to show much skin on Halloween.

Bustle, an online news blog, did an article about the difference between men’s and women’s costumes, which you can see here: http://www.bustle.com/articles/7907-15-mens-and-womens-halloween-costumes-reveal-some-scary-sexism .

They bring an air of comedy to just how sexualized women’s costumes can be. For example, a man’s costume for an owl is a full-body suit while a woman’s costume is a short dress with little feathers all over it.

And that’s not even the worst of them.

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The problem with this inherent sexism is that it gives women boundaries for this fun holiday. If a woman isn’t particularly confident in her body, or doesn’t want to show it off, then her costumes are very, very limited.

Even teenage girl’s costumes are becoming more and more skimpy. In fact, most costumes that would fit me I can’t even wear to school, because they don’t follow school dress code.

Some would say that it would be easier just to make a costume at home, but why should I, and many other women, have to?

Instead of telling me what I should do to help my costume-less state, tell manufacturers to create more women’s costumes that are less provocative.