Gender Equality: A Better Term than Feminism?

This is a follow-up to my article, 'Sexy' Women in Games, that discusses how our society's attitude towards women can be detrimental to their well-being. It is a common habit within today's society to discuss the gender inequality problem that affects women but it isn't so often, however, that it is asked if our culture treats men fairly. This post will, therefore, attempt to help fill in the void surrounding this issue and embrace the true spirit of equality.

It is my opinion that gender inequality leans both ways with our culture approaching the two sexes differently depending upon the scenario at hand. I wouldn't for a second suggest that it is wrong to support feminism. It is, after-all, statistical fact that women generally get the short-straw in life and are often paid less than men. It is just that I feel the word 'feminism' defeats its own objective; the term puts too much emphasis on the female gender which ultimately creates an imbalance between the sexes. 'Gender equality' would be a far better term.

Part of the reason for the overlooking of men's rights is due to the domineering stance over women that men have adopted up until very recently. Interestingly, however strange it may sound to say, womb envy may play a role in this. It was believed by psychoanalyst, Karen Horney, that men are conflicted with the anxiety of naturally envying women's capacity for pregnancy, nursing and motherhood, and therefore feel that they must dominate women and strive for a life of achievements in order for their names to live on in the manner that bearing a child would.

Another reason is simply that men are generally perceived as being 'tougher' than women. I believe this perception of men to be nothing more than a stereotype. I may have slightly larger muscles than the majority of women, but my emotions are just as strong and real as a woman's. What I am essentially trying to get across is that emotional complexity remains the same between genders, with men being just as emotionally vulnerable as women. Perhaps it is because of this stereotype of men being 'tougher' that they do indeed appear as such. That is to say, it is quite possible that many men feel the need to conform to this behaviour in order to satisfy these artificial requirements of their gender.

Proof of a man's emotional vulnerability can be seen in their insecurities. All individuals  — probably even emotionally-disciplined individuals such as the Dalai Lama — are not without an emotional complex of insecurities and inadequacies. I have plenty myself: 

I am terrified by the prospect of becoming bald; I worry that I haven't got what it takes to be an artist; I can't weigh myself on the scales because even a slight increase in weight will greatly upset me; I am deeply disheartened to realise that I'll never be able to explore all the countries and regions that I'd like to; I am scared of committing to a job and/or marital partner; I am scared of my youth escaping me before I've had a chance to fully appreciate it; I hate the sound of my own voice; I worry that people perceive me as being unrealistic and naïve; I worry that people perceive me as being pretentious; I worry that people find my mannerisms annoying; I feel guilty for many of the things that I have done in the past; I feel guilty for many of the things that I didn't appreciate until several years later; I feel guilty for the imbalance between what my dad has done for me and what I have done for him; I am scared of following my passions and desires as they are mostly irrational and change constantly; I worry that I will die an unfulfilled man; I feel like a jigsaw-piece that can't find its place in the puzzle — I could carry on.

The reason that I am disclosing such personal information on such a public mode of forum, I do not know! I suppose it must be rooted in how deeply I want to convey my point that men have feelings too!

Society's definition of what
constitutes a 'real man'

Social interactions can bring us men to feel happiness, sadness or anger, among other emotions: reading a sad story can move us; exchanging angry words with a contemporary can upset us; seeing a beautiful oil painting can bring a tear to our eye. Men are vulnerable and what can be damaging to a woman can be just as damaging to a man. This is why I believe that reform is needed not only in the way our culture receives the female gender, but in the way it receives the male gender also. Let's look at some of the issues facing the male gender.

The main problem is that men are generally defined by society as befitting a very narrow, unaccommodating stereotype, and when they stray outside of this definition, derogatory (and often, emasculating) labels such as "pussy," "fag," and "girl" are used.

Here is how society views men (particularly in the mass-media and entertainment industries):

• of a lesser value and more-so expendable than women
• bearing of inherently aggressive traits, which make them tough and violent in ways that women are not
• tough and strong enough that violence against them is more tolerable that that against women
• lacking in the capacity to feel pain or cry and possessing only a limited range of emotions
• not in need of close-relationships, tenderness, reassurance, or emotional support

Men who do not conform to these oppressive social expectations are seen as less masculine or perhaps even as feminine, as compared to men in general. This is, of-course, all a load of bollocks — excuse the pun! There is only one requirement in the criteria of being male and that is to have the fundamental anatomical sexual organs of which a male is equipped.

This God of War III poster has done all the work for me! It encapsulates part of my argument perfectly. The poster's depiction of the Greek mythological God, Kratos, contributes to two key components of the detrimental male stereotype; firstly, there is Kratos' blatantly aggressive demeanour, with his expression bearing nothing but contempt and an accumulation of battle-scars littering his overly-macho face, then there is the word sequence, "born," "betrayed," "revenge," "revenge," "revenge," "revenge," "revenge," which demonstrates the character's very limited emotional complexity. Contrary to the publisher's intent, the poster leaves me glad to have never put any of my money into the franchise. It gives me the impression of a crude, diluted gaming experience with very little in the way of interesting, sophisticated characters.

Namco's Soul series is guilty of over-exaggerating the
anatomy of both male and female game characters

Furthering this theme of overly-aggressive male media portrayals, we arrive at the matter of hulk-esque, muscular, meat machines. It is not my opinion that male characters should bear an absolute minimal amount of brawn; I just feel that the extent to which some character designs go with their shameless displays of apparent machoed-up, beef-cake superiority, is quite frankly, ridiculous! Female game characters are often described as possessing disproportionate anatomy in regards to being unrealistically over-equipped in the bust department and unrealistically under-equipped in the waist department. Can this same assertion not be made about men? It is undeniable, after-all, that the extent to which some character designers go with their depiction of muscular proportions is absurd! I know that I pick on the Soul franchise a lot, but just look at the anatomical features of characters such as Siegfried, Mitsurugi, Maxi and Yun-seong, as shown in the right-aligned image!

Shameless male
sex-selling

So why is a little extra muscle such a bad thing? Well, not too dissimilar to the issue with female media portrayal, bombarding men with unrealistic anatomical standards makes them think that such standards are normal, and therefore, something that they must aspire to. However, being unrealistic, these standards are of-course unachievable, and therefore, leave men feeling inept and inadequate when they fail to fulfil them.

It is reported that boys of an age as young as eleven put themselves through dangerous, enduring daily routines such as over-exercise, anabolic steroid and protein-powder consumption, and calorie restriction, in the vain of increasing their muscle size and reducing their body fat levels. It is also reported that over 1 million men in the world suffer from eating-disorders. However, this statistic may be lower than the actual figure, as we will discuss in the next paragraph.

It is nothing but outright ignorance that leads many to believe that anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are non-existent among men. Quite to the contrary, it is very possible that a far larger percentage of men than we realise are conflicted with eating disorders. As touched-upon already, one of the false male stereotype's traits is that of not needing the help of others; especially in regards to emotional support. It may be because of what this stereotype projects that such a large quantity of men suffering from body-image mental illnesses refuse to seek help. I cannot begin to express how damaging people's ignorance of male eating disorders is for those conflicted with such mental illnesses. The bottom line is that men are just as vulnerable as women and it is important that people start to acknowledge this.

It is no surprise that men and women are treated so differently from each another when one considers the matter of gender segregation. The separating of the two genders sadly seems to be deeply embedded in how our culture thinks and functions.

The above image of a public school in the Manhattan district of New York highlights the issue of gender division perfectly. Those who believe gender division to occur only so as to resolve the issue of sexual tension should be reminded that we live in a society of heterosexuals, homosexuals, bisexuals, and celibates, alike. Should an individual who is attracted to both genders be separated from everybody?

How would people react if the doors read what can be seen in the above image instead? Why is one scenario acceptable but the other not?

I remember on one occasion the head-master of my school telling me that my hair was too long for a male and that I would be disciplined if it wasn't cut more regularly. He said this to me as girls strode past, sporting luscious displays of liberated hair that was free to grow at whatever length they chose! How is that really any different from two ethnicities being asked to sit on different parts of a bus?

Thanks for reading.

Please note: I am by no means comparing having a haircut to the horrible ordeals that African American slaves suffered during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

Further reading material on character design:

• Gender Differences in Video Game Characters’ Roles, Appearances, and Attire as Portrayed in Video Game Magazines 
• Virtual Muscularity: A Content Analysis of Male Video Game Characters
• Eating Disorders among Men: A Deadly New Trend Emerges