Challenging traditional gender roles can be liberating from "summary" of How Not To Be a Boy by Robert Webb
What I’m saying is, I think men have got a pretty raw deal. I mean, come on! They’re not allowed to cry, they have to like football and beer, and they can’t be gay. All that stuff. So, they end up in a position where they’re not allowed to be full human beings. They’re only allowed to be manly human beings. It’s a restricted role.
But the thing is, it’s also a role in which you’re not allowed to be happy. You’re not allowed to be attractive. You’re not allowed to be successful. You’re not allowed to be a whole person. You’re not allowed to be a person at all. You’re a man. And men don’t do that.
So when you break the rules of traditional maleness, you’re not just breaking the rules and the expectations of society, you’re breaking the rules and the expectations of yourself. You’re saying, “I don’t have to be this thing. I don’t have to be this limited, unhappy, unfulfilled thing. I can be something else. I can be me.”
And that’s liberating. That’s freeing. That’s exciting and scary and wonderful. Because suddenly you’re not just a man. You’re a person. You’re a whole person. You’re a human being. And that’s a whole lot better than being a man. Because a man is just a role. A human being is a person.
So when you challenge traditional gender roles, when you say, “I don’t have to be this thing,” you’re not just changing society. You’re changing yourself. You’re becoming more of yourself. You’re becoming more of a person. And that’s the most liberating thing of all. That’s the most exciting thing of all. That’s the most wonderful and scary thing of all. Because suddenly you’re not just a man. You’re you. And that’s pretty damn amazing.
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