I want to be a man when I grow up…

Google had an interesting Google Doddle today. It was kind of ironic actually. It was ironic because it fit exactly with what I wanted to write about. Equality! Gender equality. I would say it is a pretty trending topic right now. But what is this gender equality that everyone seems to be fighting for? What’s this obsession with equality? Being equal. Equal to who? The man? Can you imagine a world where everyone was the same. Equal. (How boring) But it seems to me that equality actually means that the woman must be like the man in order to be equal. In order to have power she must follow the male model. Equality is a mask of power. It’s an idea that was inflicted to the colonized. Equality is another way to oppress the woman. Equality is something that could never be achieved.

She fights to be liberated. But as Lonzi states:

“Liberation for woman does not mean accepting the life man leads, because it is unlivable; on the contrary, it means expressing her own sense of existence.”

I wanted to look at Androgynous fashion and make a connection with this ideology of equality.

I see a problem in modern androgynous fashion. For one when I googled androgyny fashion this is what came up.

Nothing but women dressed in masculine attire. Women in suits and ties smoking cigarettes. (as if smoking is a manly thing) One actress was wearing a pretend mustache. (pretend mustache???!!!) But there seemed to be a lack of androgynous men when you googled androgyny. There was an option to click male or female but the first images that came up were strictly just androgynous woman. Then I clicked the male option and came across another problem. The male option still had more androgynous women and a limited amount of androgynous men. It seems to me that androgynous fashion is only socially accepted if its a women dressed masculine but not a man dressed feminine.

Androgyny is supposed to be breaking gender roles and gender stereotypes. Androgyny means stepping out of your gender box. Genderless. But in reality for an androgynous woman being genderless actually means being more masculine. An androgynous woman must express masculinity and if she shows any form of femininity she is no longer considered androgynous. If you are “female” you must erase every inch of femininity in order to pass as androgynous. It’s socially accepted for a woman to dress in a suit and tie because its reiterating the idea of the woman striving to be equal to the man. In order to pass as an androgynous woman she also needs to be thin and flat chested. Why? So she could look more like a “man”. When you goggle androgynous woman you will most likely see a white, thin, flat chested woman dressed in a suit. Does that mean an androgynous man has to have breast in order to pass as androgynous?! NO!!

“Woman must not be defined in relation to man.” Carla Lonzi

Woman shouldn't been defined in relation to man. Women should be defined in relation to a woman. I’m not saying androgyny is wrong. I’m all for breaking the binary and abolishing gender. But the idea of genderless meaning more masculine is not right. That’s what brings me back to my argument of equality. Equality is erasing femininity. Androgyny is erasing femininity. What’s wrong with being feminine or being a woman. Woman are awesome!!! Women should strive to embrace their own sense of existences as Lonzi puts it. Femininity shouldn’t be a weakness but a strength.