Blueprints for a Gender Neutral Society.

The laws and cultural norms that govern most societies around the world has typically been overwhelmingly male oriented, and for this reason, it is not uncommon to see that such societal norms are biased and predominantly favors everything male. In some cultures for instance, it is the norm that the female body is solely for procreation. Compared to the male body the female body  has historically been deemed “fleshy”,” leaky” and “primitive”, whereas the male body generally has been associated with” logic”, “rationality” and “civility”. Such a perspectives has always shaped world view of women, and have hampered their ability to contribute to societal affairs and a vast array of other social issues. In most western cultures like the United States for instance there is so much stigma associated with a woman’s quest for a leadership role this was evident in the 2016 presidential elections in which the default expectation that there are too many limitations that prevents a woman’s from successfully executing such leadership roles limited her chances for success in favor of the male candidate.

Similarly, it has well been established that in the past few decades, sexual violence and its use have been and continues to be exploited in an attempt exert control and subjugate minorities especially in the slavery and pre civil rights era. By many accounts however it goes beyond race and civil rights, and traverse the contours of gender and gender equality especially if viewed in the perspective male quest for control over the female body. With the establishment of such norms aimed at establishing control over the female embodiment, one can’t help but argue that by extension women as a whole suffered and continues to suffer from gender disparity norms especially for reasons that such norms are put in place by men with no clue of how a loss in agency might effect the female body. In many ways, the quest for such male dominance can be likened to Foucault’s description of sexual exploitation (in this case of the female body) as a way of projecting power.

In recent years however, the calls for change continues to get louder and old societal norms are increasingly being challenged by new and informed standards aimed at guaranteeing gender equality and reclamation of female embodiment. The “me too” movement for instance challenges the male domination of societal norms, and seeks to dismantle the male claim to the female body as a price possession. Because the role played by the disembodied male perspective in shaping the current view of the female body, one important question which arise is that as the winds of change continues to sweep across all major sociopolitical spheres, what role if any should men play in ensuring a more pronounced and long lasting change in gender education and equality?

Recently in the media, when the Gillette razor company unveiled a TV commercial challenging the old gender bias norms, it drew a lot of heart felt criticism and backlash from those (mostly men) who felt offended by the central theme of the commercial. The message though controversial had most communities talking, and served as a blueprint on how such issues can be dealt with moving forward. It should start with breaking the cycle of misinformation, with bold fathers stepping forth to educate their sons as they will be the fathers of tomorrow, and hold the responsibility of passing on what they have learned to their children. In other words the key to a less gender biased society starts with adequately orienting such ideologies through education on gender discrimination and female disembodiment, especially among youths be it in the classroom, at home, with friends or no social media.