Challenging Gender Stereotypes Part 1
A few weeks ago scrolling through my Facebook feed a post caught my attention. It was a repost of Ezra Miller's photos from a Playboy photo shoot back in 2018. I didn't know who Ezra Miller was. I had no idea why Playboy would publish images of a man wearing fishnet stockings and lingerie. I didn't care. All I could think of was: how beautiful, sensual, and mesmerising those photos are.
I couldn't get those photos out of my head. Those images were challenging gender stereotypes and I felt the calling to do it too. That night I asked my Facebook friends for help without hopping for much success, to be honest. To my surprise, by the end of the week, I had three models willing to pose in front of my camera.
I feel so honoured to share with you the images from one of the shoots along with the personal note from the model.
"I agreed to do this photoshoot for a few reasons - a mutual friend of Marina's and mine encouraged me to. I wanted to help Marina with her exploration into new photography realms, and also because it was always going to be a challenge for me. I don't fancy myself particularly photogenic and suffer from body image issues at times as everyone does. Even as a gay man, I buy into gender stereotypes and can also be judgmental of men who push the gender boundaries. To try to tackle my own beliefs, I literally put myself in their shoes, which were super uncomfortable.
While preparing for this photo shoot, I went to a few stores to try on clothes and it wasn't long before I noticed other customers giving me strange looks for flicking through women's clothing. One daring woman openly asked her partner "why is he looking at women's clothes" before the man quickly shut down the conversation. I'm not easily embarrassed, but at that moment, I felt a flush of red come over my face and quickly moved to another part of the store. If I really didn't believe in strict gender stereotypes, it wouldn't have mattered. If I wasn't concerned with what strangers thought of how I presented myself, it wouldn't have mattered. If it wasn't generally considered derogatory for a man to wear women's clothes, it wouldn't have mattered.
What I took away from that experience was that if I am so concerned with all of these self-centred thoughts, it's highly like that most other people are also mostly concerned about themselves as well and less concerned about what other people around them are doing. Life's too short to pay any mind to others' expectations of how we should look. Not only the clothes you choose to wear but also your body.
If you worry that you aren't thin enough or muscular enough to change into swimwear and enjoy yourself at the beach, let that thought pass and remember that thought is a normal human experience and you can find freedom in letting go of such thoughts. You will miss out on a lot of life's pleasures if you are consumed with trying to obtain the perfect body or presenting your appearance in a way others expect of you and not being your authentic self.
In conclusion, am I worried about having my photo taken in such a feminine way and having other people see them? I was because of society's standards, that thought passed, and people are free to have their own self-conscious thoughts about them too but the photos have objectively turned out beautifully, no matter how you look at them." - Clinton
