Written by: Sunabi Pokharel - 25018, Grade IX
Posted on: 25 November, 2021
According to the Oxford dictionary, the stereotype is a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. To be more clear on this topic, examples can be taken. Girls are sent to the kitchen once they reach their teenage years whereas boys are hardly ever ordered to make a cup of tea. Girls are advised to wear “decent” clothes whereas boys are never advised to treat girls “decently”. Boys aren’t allowed to cry because boys are strong and shouldn’t shed tears. These all are a few of the gender stereotypes we’ve heard in our society. I would like to talk about a couple of them.
One of the widely heard stereotypes is that girls should wear longer clothes. ‘The dress is too revealing. Don’t wear it.’, ‘Wear clothes that reach till your knees.’, ‘Stay away from boys.’ I believe most of the girls have heard these lines either from their parents, relatives, or from the people of their society. In my point of view, I believe that instead of saying those lines to their daughters why don’t they teach their sons to treat girls properly and not do anything without their consent, to treat women like people instead of objects. The stereotype that people think that the length of a girl’s clothes is the cause of rape is completely wrong. We all have heard about a year old or a three-year-old getting raped. Do you actually think that it is the cause of the little infant? Of course not. It was the man’s intention to do that. No matter how much longer or how much shorter clothes girls wear, in the end, it is always the boy’s intention that matters. I have been told not to wear short clothes that show off my skin. It’s all due to the conservative and backward people in society. Let me share with you a true event that has happened with me. It was around 6 am in the morning and I had just woken up. I had been wearing half pants and a t-shirt and I had to go to the grocery store to buy a few things. It was too early and the store was near so I didn’t bother to dress up. And then I reached the store and there was an old lady around the age of 87 and she was smoking cigarettes. And she went like, ‘Hey you little girl. You are wearing such a short dress. Girls should only wear clothes that reach their ankles. Never wear clothes like this again. You are inviting harm to yourself.’ Even thinking about that scenario makes me laugh. Just look at the mindset of these people. They are smoking cigarettes, ruining their lungs, and harming their lifespan and they tell us to wear long clothes to avoid harm to ourselves. Another most heard stereotype is that boys shouldn’t cry. People need to understand that crying isn’t something that would make you weak. Instead, it makes you stronger. Crying shows that people have emotions. Bottling up your feelings and not venting out is what will make you weak from the inside. A wise person once said, “A strong person isn’t the one who doesn’t cry. It is the one who cries and sheds tears for a moment, then gets up and fights again.” We’ve been taught from past generations that men shouldn’t cry because crying isn’t masculine but is feminine. This stereotype not only affects men but women too. Boys have been taught not to cry like girls. They need to be stronger than girls. This will make the boys feel that they are superior and are stronger than girls. They will feel that girls are the weaker gender and aren’t capable of doing anything. This will never promote equality anywhere.
In conclusion, I’d like to say that it normalizes everything in society. We have been seeing western people wearing short clothes without any hesitation and without being judged. We always say western culture isn’t good to follow our own tradition but taking good ideas from western culture isn’t wrong. The next thing is to teach your sons how to respect girls and treat them properly. We need to make sure they don’t grow up to be a man who thinks they are superior to women but be the man who supports equality. Another most important thing is to tell your sons that it is okay to cry and vent out their emotions. These things should be taught to all the people from this moment so that these stereotypes will not continue for the upcoming generations.
