Reversing gender stereotypes starts at a young age
When young children are in their prime and developing their entire being, a simple idea is usually planted in their brains: gender roles.
This includes teaching children that girls must wear pink skirts and act cute, and boys have to be smart and tough. It’s especially hard for children and teenagers to express themselves the way they want without someone telling them they are wrong.
But there comes a time in life when people try and come to terms with who they are and what they want to be known for.
It seems this is not an issue that is widely addressed, but it affects so many teenagers after all of those years of being taught what they should wear and how they should act based on their gender.
Currently, 16-year-old Chase Culpepper is suing the South Carolina DMV for making him take off his makeup for a license photo. The South Carolina DMV did not allow Culpepper to wear his makeup because they have a policy that disallows pictures taken “when someone is purposefully altering his or her appearance,” according to Fox News.
According to Fox News, Culpepper said he “does not identify with gender-specific pronouns.” Culpepper’s mother is actually the one who filed the lawsuit, with help from the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is demanding he has allowance to retake his photo however he would like.
Culpepper, as does every U.S. citizen, has the right to free speech and expression.
People still have a mindset that says this gender should act this way and that gender should dress that way. But self-expression shouldn’t even correlate with gender. Some girls like football and some boys like wearing flowery perfume. No one should ever discriminate any person who desires something differently other than what is supposedly the “right” way.
The DMV officials aren’t there to say what is “right” and “wrong” in regards to appearance or the typical gender roles everyone “should” follow. Forcing someone to do something they do not want to do just because they do not approve is degrading, sexist and a violation of human rights.
The DMV is trying to say Culpepper was trying to “alter his appearance,” but how can that really be true when he’s just being himself? It doesn’t make sense that someone would purposely try to change the way they look for a state registered I.D. It’s their own I.D., why would they go to lengths trying to make themselves look different?
To exit a place where essentially every American citizen will go to at least once in their life feeling humiliated and wronged — there is a definite human rights issue. He is at a fragile age where there is a strong sensitivity about sexuality, gender roles and growing up.
Culpepper is not hurting anyone by wearing makeup. People should support him for accepting the fact that he has discovered himself at a young age, and not belittle him because he is young and may do as the authority commands.
Culpepper wants justice served not only for him, but also for others who deserve to be seen how they want to and dress and act the way they desire, according to CBS News. It is not wrong for a boy to come to school dressed in a skirt — he might just like them as any female would. A female can take her student I.D. picture wearing a flannel shirt with short hair — that’s just how she likes to present herself.
People learn at a young age that it is looked poorly upon when they are not following their gender rules, but what really needs to be taught is how to find themselves while they are that young.
That way, when they are older — in the real world or in college — they can be comfortable with their own identity, not having to find it when they are older and have nowhere to start.
