By Fatima Idakwo
Over
the past few months, it has been quite difficult not to come across a
discussion that was yet again a face-off between the ‘heads’ and the ‘necks’ as
they are commonly referred to. This face-off mostly occurs on the
internet where almost everyone feels the pressing need to air their views or
better still, argue with every last vein in their body to ensure that their
gender wins this never-ending feud that seems to be causing a lot of havoc and
chaos.
If
I am to trace back the origin of this war, I would say that it began a long
time ago when women revolted against society demanding fairness and
equality, a stop to the limitations placed on women and their abilities.
Furthermore, granting women the liberty they desperately needed led to the uprising
of some movements that in all honesty, probably shouldn’t have started in the
first place. All these old practices and gender movements helped to shape the
ideologies that most people in today’s society carry about in those pink brains
of theirs.
Personally,
I think this war is far from being over. I know it may seem ironic given the
fact that I am championing for an end to the war however, my direct exposure to
these face-offs on the internet has not only succeeded in showing me how
blindly some people present their arguments but also, has showed me how
deeply this war has affected the mindset of a significant number of
individuals, myself included. My reason for stating the first sentence in this
paragraph lies solely in the affected mindset of individuals. This has some
sort of ripple effect that keeps passing from one mind to another, from one
generation to the next, and might take a few years before it is completely wiped
off the brains of people in the society.
It
may seem like a harmless situation until you listen to people’s opinions about
gender war. Only then can you realize how deeply this has eaten into
society. The internet doesn’t seem to be
helping either because it provides the opportunity for all sorts of opinions to
be pushed into the consciousness of anyone who spends time on the internet.
What
exactly am I getting at? Well, I just feel the need to shed more light on these
fights between the men and men, these fights are not merely another flex but a
situation that would most likely keep getting worse should it not be contained
immediately. The fights seem to center around the ridiculous level of
expectation that society places on both genders, something that I could never see
myself coming to terms with. However, I wouldn’t totally blame anyone who has
these expectations because they have been brainwashed over time to see things
from such an angle.
For
me, the most annoying part of this war is the stereotype that comes with it. We
fail to realize that we live in a world where people are as diverse as the
flowers in a flower market. So, I ask myself, why can’t we all just take the
time to understand a person for who they are rather than categorize them into a
set of ideas? When will we learn to take off the labels when referring to certain
persons - Why not say ‘Mr. G’ is a cheat rather than men are cheaters? Or ‘Ms. H’
is a gold digger rather than women are gold diggers? We all need to rid
ourselves of this mindset that I’d like to think has existed for some thousand and
one years.
As
stated in the preceding paragraph, ridding ourselves of this mindset is a
battle that might take another thousand and one years to win. And even though I
am unsure of my odds of winning, it is a battle I am prepared to fight because
I’d like to give myself a fighting chance. I want us to give this battle a
fighting chance, the gender war has lasted longer than it should have.
Having
said all this, I hope to see a reduction in the number of gender stereotypes
and baseless gender arguments on the internet. I hope that the day will come
when society is free from the ridiculous archaic mindset about gender and
gender roles.
It is high time for the
seemingly never-ending war to end.
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