The Frames of Imagery

                   In order to live in a specific society freely, you must follow the laws of that society. Some laws remain unwritten and forever changing along with the social progressions of that society. For gender oriented behavior, there has always been a societal stigma for stepping against those unwritten laws. For a woman to behave more macho and masculine she may be called a lesbian, for a man to behave more feminine and dainty he is deemed gay. This may or may not be true, but these are based on social stigmas and stereotypes.  A lesbian may or may not act more masculine or feminine simply because of her sexual orientation. A gay man may or may not behave more feminine or masculine just because of his sexual orientation.  Now these issues of gender behavior are not only pertinent to sexuality but to our everyday lives from the beginning of time.

Every era has its gender roles and boundaries, however as anyone will know some rules have changed over time. Imagine going to a museum that contains only paintings regarding the history of gender. As we walk frame by frame, century by century will see different roles carried out by men and women, with different attire. Ignoring wealth or other economical statures what is common among men and women of this time. In the time of Jane Eyre, the few men that were deemed important enough to have portraits made of them shared the similar face of strength, and dignified, appearing as a master of whatever their trade. It was rare that women without nobility or of society were seen portraits. Of the few women, they were displayed fawning over men to find a wealthy suitor. Otherwise they were working as governesses, tavern maids, always in servitude to someone.

Let’s travel now to the series of portraits during World War II, of both army personnel and civilians. During this time soldiers were mostly men while nurses almost all women. If coloured photos from that time existed or were even prevalent you would notice that in civilian attire, there was a specific colour coding. Boys were not seen wearing pink or any other feminine appearing colour and wardrobe. Why, is that? In the novel A Separate Peace by John Knowles, the setting was between the summer of 1942 and the summer of 1943 at an American high school. Of the two main characters, Gene and Phineas, Phineas was the most likeable. The most free spirited, athletic and overall best person you wanted to hang around. In the novel Phineas was without wrong.

One day Phineas decides that he would wear a pink shirt. In the modern world that is nothing for a man to wear a pink shirt. Unfortunately back then when he wore the pink shirt he received many stares from the people that adored him. They even called him a ‘fairy’ which was a slang time of being gay, which was a stigma back then. Now it’s 2010 and wearing men wearing pink is not a problem.

Now our gender orientation has changed as we move to the picture frames of today.  Women are now equal to men in laws, rights, mentality and in the workforce. In fact several recent studies have shown that more women are employed than men. More women are graduating from universities, particularly with PhD degrees than men. Although there are more women in the workforce than ever before what are they’re career options?

 Just as in the past there are more female nurses than female doctors. There are more male doctors than male nurses. When driving past a construction zone the other day, there was a sign that read “Caution Men Working”, suggesting that only men were on their construction team. There are more male firefighters than female, more male truck drivers than female. Similarly there are more female, dental assistants, phlebotomist, OBGYN’s, teacher’s but not lecturers, areas that do not require as much physical strength than others and areas that compass of second best like scenarios like the nurse vs doctor situation.

But these are only a few portraits in a museum of our gender history and are not even the two sides of a coin but a part of the six sides of a die. Women have become the breadwinners in some families while men stay at home and raise the children. There are female electricians and male CNA’s. Therefore overtime our portraits will show a significant change, from one decade to another, but in the case of gender oriented roles and stigmas, they will always exist because it’s not like we’re all unisex anyways, are we?