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Doll Skin's Sydney Dolezal: Why Stereotyping Any Gender Identity Must Stop
No matter how you identify, there is too much pressure from society to try to live up to gender stereotypes, says doll skin’s Sydney Dolezal
- Words:
- Sydney Dolezal
- Photo:
- Megan Thompson
Growing up in this century as a young female is a statement in itself. There are so many things that seek to influence us, and for me trying to grow into the woman I want to ultimately become, I feel like I’m in this constant battle between who I want to be and who I feel I should be. I go back and forth between either feeling like my femininity is something I want, or like it’s something I need.
I talk about this with my younger sibling a lot: they are non-binary, and they love their femininity, but at the same time feel detached from it; they feel like their femininity is forced, but also that in order to be non-binary they can’t act feminine. Young men and non-binary youth, as well as women, are being taught to act a certain way with regards to gender, and that’s something that doesn’t sit right with me.
If you identify as a female, I feel like there’s this societal guideline that exists that you need to follow to pass as a woman. I was born female and identify that way, so it should come naturally to me to ‘be a woman’, but I don’t always understand what’s expected of me in that sense. I don’t like having make-up on or wearing feminine clothes all the time, but what I see on social media is that you need to do that in order to be female.
These expectations are an accumulation of historical attitudes, and it’s definitely the case that there’s a lot of misogyny permeating our social climate in 2019. It’s the same for men and how they supposedly need to act masculine in order to live up to being male. We see in old movies how a woman’s place used to be in the kitchen doing the cooking and cleaning, and whilst we may look back on that and laugh, those attitudes still exist, just in a different way.
If you’re struggling with your identity and figuring out who you want to be, it’s important to know that there are people out there who understand what you’re going through. The music scene is generally very supportive, and it’s always good to talk your issues through with someone. Paying attention to where your anxieties are coming from will help you to understand your feelings and, ultimately, the steps you can take to address them.
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