Ellyn Lem
English 102
May 11, 2015
Paper 5
Gender Wrongs
What makes a boy a traditional boy or what makes a girl a traditional girl? Genetics are what classifies male and female. That pesky little Y chromosome has shaped the way gender has been perceived. What if everyone live in an alternate universe where feminine articles were manly and manly articles were feminine? To some people this makes their blood boil, or even leave an uneasy feeling in their stomach. Fashion scholar Valerie Steele who is the director of the museum at the Fashion Institute Technology states that “in the 18th century, it was perfectly masculine for a man to wear a pink silk suit with floral embroidery […] it was considered slightly masculine as a diminutive of red, which was thought to be a ‘warlike’ color.” Overtime colors have switched so now blue is masculine while pink is geared towards women. People have clung to a specific gender, but in reality, not everyone feels the need to abide to the classification of male or female. After researching this topic objectively for the last two months, there have been many arguments that support people following gender norms. Let’s break that norm. Who doesn’t like a little deviance? We have been a country that has valued the idea of freedom and individuality. What happens when people get their rights taken away? They revolt, riot, petition, or go out of their way to get their freedoms back. So since many people have forced individuals to