"Real" Men Don't Exist

There is a lot that I have learned throughout the last four years having attended a university. One of the biggest things I have learned (and realized for myself through first-hand experience) is that gender does not exist.

Don't get me wrong here, there are many differences between men and women. But the illusions that we adhere to as being "feminine" or "masculine" are exactly that. Men have penises, and women have vaginas and breasts. THAT'S ABOUT IT. Of course I can't leave out the fact that those biological traits are coupled with their complimenting hormones: men have testosterone and women have estrogen. I also can't leave out that these hormones are what determine how men and women develop into adulthood.

Gender is an illusion. Here is an example.

The color PINK is perceived as a "girl" color because it's "pretty," and apparently only girls can be pretty. This is false. Dictonary.com says pretty is an adjective used to describe something "pleasing or attractive to the eye, as by delicacy or gracefulness." Is this to say that men cannot be attractive or pleasing to the eye? Absolutely not. Is this to say that men cannot be called pretty or graceful? Absolutely not. I tell my boyfriend that he's pretty all the time. He smiles, gives me a kiss, and says "YOU'RE pretty!" To give more depth to this argument, gay guys are often called "pretty boys" because they tend to wear more effeminate clothing, and sometimes make-up. But even the fact that they wear "girl" clothing is an illusion because you have to ask: what makes it feminine?

Does it have a vagina? no..
Does it have breasts? no...
Does it carry children in its belly? I don't think so.

Then what is it about the color pink that makes it a "girl" color? What makes this question even more contemplative is that pink was often regarded as a "boy" color back in the early 1900s because it was a shade of red, which was seen as a "stronger" color. In opposition, blue was seen as a "girl" color because it was softer and delicate. This lasted until Nazi Germany started separating people by colored patches (the Star of David for Jews, pink triangles for gays) and were often confusing because there were so many different ones. Coming out of WWII resulted in pink being more associated with women, while blue went to boys.

Why has this illusion of gender become such an influence on who we become?

I blame the smart people who made dumb decisions. They set a standard and mocked the alternative. Nobody likes getting mocked, so it's much easier to just follow the "standard" to avoid being questioned. "Pink is for girls? OK!"

What I find the most depressing about this illusion of gender is that everyone believes in it. It's everywhere you look. It's on every commercial you watch on TV or hear on the radio. It's blindly spread by families through the new generations. It's at retail stores. It's at your favorite restaurant. It's the car you drive. It's the way you wear your hair. It's on food labels at the grocery store. It's in video games. It determines the presents you buy your family and friends. It determines your "role" in life. It's displayed on every website and ad that comes across your computer. It's in the products you buy. It's in the music you listen to. It's all pervasive and it doesn't even exist.

Just like God.

But the only reason I brought this all up is because I saw a headline that read "Top 10 Drinks REAL Men Don't Drink." I clicked the link and it lead me to a website called www.askmen.com. You can search it for yourself because I am honestly not interested in finding out what part of these alcoholic drinks are equipped with breasts and vaginas, making "REAL" men incapable of drinking them