Origin and Trend Setting of Colour Sexism

It must be noted that gender-colour stereotype and assigning a colour to gender isn’t an ancient concept but a twentieth-century trait. After World War II, blue was used extensively for men’s uniforms. Therefore, blue was identified as more of a masculine colour. Since 1940, pink was promoted as a woman’s colour. “Think Pink” was the marketing slogan to convince women to embrace their femininity. It grew massively in the 1970s and by the 1980s it was a full-fledged concept where markets were captured by brands selling gender-specific merchandise to parents indoctrinating a stark contrast in their minds. Also, the introduction of clinical tests that were capable of revealing the gender of an unborn baby, in different countries, played a major role as parents had the opportunity to preplan shopping for their children and stock up on everything that would speak loud and clear for the gender. Scrolling up and down social media apps I came across a trending concept of ‘Gender Reveal’ which was first started by Jenna Karnuvidis in the year 2008. She baked a cake full of pink icing to celebrate a baby girl they were expecting. After 10 years of this viral phenomenon, she realized how the trend picked up and someone’s potential and talent should not be compartmentalized depending solely on what’s between their legs. 

Sexism in Toys: Not a Child’s Play

With sexism being the primary focus while growing up, most children face a huge dilemma about peculiar universally accepted, gender-specific presents. Girls get a lot of Barbie dolls, kitchen sets, jewellery sets, anything and everything that’s ‘pinkified’. Boys are assumed to fancy GI Joes, Hotwheels, toy guns, for god’s sake the society loves gifting their sons a lot of weapons! It’s not just the gift that needs to be focused on but the dull mindset behind it. Gifting a kitchen set is the most suitable way to glorify what the society actually thinks of women, trying best to nurture their homely instincts because clearly, society would rather assign specific gender roles than let women dream of being bold, independent, and sore high with a mind of their own. I’ve seen parents often discouraging their boys who dare to show even the slightest of an inclination towards so-called ‘girly’ toys or makeup. This discrimination affects their thinking and behavioural pattern tremendously. The trauma of not being able to open up to your own birth givers about personal preferences, toys or choice of colours is claustrophobic in itself.

Second Home

We call schools our second homes and now I know why! There’s an uncanny significance between the two. A divide between girls and boys surprisingly exist in schools and educational institutions even today. We choose to ignore red flags of clear cut segregation that children commonly face on a day to day basis. For instance, boys who don’t like being a certain way and aren’t necessarily rough, rugged, crass and ‘manly’ if I must use the word are commonly subjected to a lot of bullying and are vulnerable to great deals of trauma that follows. This not only creates a problem for the child but also breaks their self-esteem. Yes, schools are very thoughtful and progressive about holding menstrual awareness workshops. Sadly these are strictly girl-specific and therefore boys are not just unaware of how a woman’s body functions but also made negligent about menstruation in general. Which is why the role of men in menstruation is still vague and sanitary pads continue to be sold wrapped in newspapers or black plastics. Girls are also taught to not speak about menstruation openly or involve the opposite gender because it doesn’t speak well of how ‘cultured’ they are. Sensitizing children about natural, biological phenomenon like these is a necessity and we need to acknowledge it as a society that’s concerned for the future generation.

‘Gender’ or ‘Sex’

Biology also teaches us the difference between a boy and a girl but what we’re often not taught is the concept of behaviour. Sexism forces one to behave in a set way. When we get behaviour into the picture let me tell you ‘Gender’ and ‘Sex’ are two very different terms. However, we end up using them interchangeably. During the second year of under-graduation, I took up Educational Psychology as an elective. While exploring certain topics I happened to come across a study which explained how humans are born as male or female biologically but socially, culturally and personally they might associate themselves as more masculine or feminine by nature. This masculinity or femininity is controlled by the society and anything that doesn’t seem to fit into their social construct is termed as abnormal and looked down upon. When a boy or a man places himself on the pink side of the spectrum we associate his gender or sexual identity with that of a woman and assume they’re homosexual. A lot of homophobics repel men who wear pink. Pink, thus in this scenario is seen as a badge of shame because it’s socially unacceptable for men to be inclined towards a colour like Pink because it’s assumed to be a colour for those who are soft, weak and feminine and men don’t gain social acceptance if they fall under such categories.

Fun fact, during 1930-1940, Nazi concentration camp badges included a pink triangle for gay men, while lesbians were lumped into an ‘asocial elements’ group with a black triangle. This shows the relevance of pink to femininity. However, in the late 60s, with the articulation of the LGBT rights movement, the significance of pink began a shift from shame to pride. The ‘Queer’ Community still struggles for acceptance because these factors are so deep-rooted. 

Live and Let Live

I’m sure if you’re a boy you must be able to relate to sentences like ‘don’t cry like a girl’ or ‘boys don’t cry because crying is for the weak’ and if you’re a girl you might’ve come across sentences like ‘sit like a girl, talk softly like a girl’ a zillion times! We need to get our basics right and realise that it is every human’s right to choose what they feel is best for themselves, associate or dissociate with people, colours, art forms or ideologies. Especially babies shouldn’t be pushed towards something purposely, taking advantage of their age and their inability to form an opinion or even understand what likes and dislikes are. This cycle of unnecessary pressure and dominance also has to stop. There should be absolute freedom in order to keep diversity alive. Diversity nowadays is probably best defined in an LGBTQ rainbow flag which is symbolic of an all-inclusive society. We should learn to live and let live instead of assigning particular colours and laying expectations on toddlers to stay true to them. There should be absolute freedom of picking any colour at any age, making it your own, and possessing the liberty to change it too because let’s face it, we’re much more than the X and Y chromosomes that we limit ourselves to!

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The trans community, owing to their difference in nature, have been seen as a threat to the core foundation of gender in society. Members of the trans community are collectively called hijras. Most people do not understand the meaning of the term hijra and use it in a derogatory sense. They do not get significant jobs because of the perception that they are unable to perform any. Being a parent of a transgender child is considered shameful and members of trans community are not allowed to marry and bear children.

Since most people in the Indian society and the global arena fail to understand the heterogeneity of gender, they see such trans persons as a threat to the traditions and culture and try to remove them from the society. Shunned, these people are not provided with any basic human, political, and civil rights and do not have any access to the necessities. They also have no access to education or healthcare.

The main issue with the Indian Education System is that they don’t facilitate skill acquisition. While moving further up, many students drop out, which creates a learning gap. Trans persons fall under this category. Many trans students are subject to a lot of bullying owing to their nature, which leads them to drop out of schools and colleges or committing suicide. In India, schools and colleges are not sensitive to trans people. The University Grants Commission and the Central and State Education Boards have to make more policies inclusive of them and make sure that these policies are implemented and that the bullying of the trans students is stopped immediately to facilitate their education.

Another benefit that is not accessible to trans people is healthcare. Trans people are often refused care from various health services. They also face harassment and physical attacks in the hospitals which in turn makes them skeptical to take the help of hospitals and doctors. Many are admitted to hospitals and left untreated. This kind of behavior has scared them and forces them to stay away from healthcare institutions. Apart from this, since they are also derived from education, they are unaware of a lot of important health care benefits and treatments that should be accessible to people in general and them.

Besides these, they are constantly ridiculed and discriminated against, which results in identity issues. They also go through a lifetime of poverty and are subject to human trafficking. They are subject to unemployment and homelessness.

Through time, the trans community, after being an integral part of the LGBTQ community, has protested against this injustice and discrimination. This had made the government create some policies and laws for the trans community.

• The Supreme Court of India recognized the third gender along with the primary genders of ‘male’ and ‘female’. This decision has successfully shattered the dual-gender structure of “male” and “female” that is usually recognized by society.
• The Supreme Court has given certain directions for the protection of the rights of the trans persons by including them in documents like the election card, passport, driving license and ration card, and for admission in educational institutions, hospitals, amongst others.
• Articles 15, 16, and 21, do not allow the violation of discrimination on the grounds of gender.
• The Court recognized the right of an individual to choose how to behave in private and allowed them the means needed to reach their full potential. The Court noted that a person will not realize his abilities and interests if he is forced to accept a gender assigned to him at birth. He should thereby be given the freedom to choose for himself to reach his full potential.
• The Court also protects an individual’s gender expression invoked by Article 19 (1) (a). It upholds that “no restriction can be placed on one’s appearance or choice of dressing subject to the restrictions contained in article 19(2) of the Constitution”.
• Human rights were awarded to them which includes the right to life, liberty, equality, dignity, and freedom of thought and expression.
• The decriminalization of Section 377 of IPC is also a colossal step for solving transgender issues.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2019 was passed on November 26, 2019, by the Parliament. It is the revised version of the Bill that was passed in 2016 and 2018. The previous Bills were heavily criticized for various reasons, one being that they were not at par with the Supreme Court judgment in National Legal Services Authority. The 2019 Bill attempted to define someone whose gender does not match the one assigned at birth. This bill included transgender persons in the Constitution, thereby including them in our society and providing them with legal human rights. It also prohibited any kind of discrimination and harassment based on an individual’s gender.

The provisions of this bill are:

• It recognizes the 3rd gender after the Supreme Court ruled in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment that the third gender should be legally recognized.
• It defines a transgender as someone who is partly female or male or a combination of female and male or neither female nor male. It advocates that the person’s gender must not match the gender assigned at birth. It includes trans-men, trans-women, persons with intersex variations, and gender-queers.
• The government must provide the necessary support, like rehabilitation, self-employment, and healthcare.
• The bill prohibits discrimination and harassment against members of trans community and protects them from any kind of violence.
• A strict penalty has been assigned against discrimination, either in public or in private.
• It holds that the members of the trans community must obtain identity proof which is provided by the district magistrate (DM) on the recommendations of medical experts, government officials, and one other transgender.
• A National Council for transgenders is to be set up to protect their interests.

In time, many states have taken certain measures to make the lives of transgenders easy. Some of them are:

• Odisha categorized transgenders under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category which now enables the community to avail of socio-economic benefits, which might otherwise be out of their reach.
• Tamil Nadu constituted the Aravanis Welfare Board in 2008 for providing a pension for the community.
• Kerala came out with a Transgender Policy to help transgenders.

This bill too has been criticized by many and has been a topic of debate and discussion.

The reason why the Transgender Protection Bill was due to the efforts of the LGBTQ Community whose aim was to ensure equality in our society. Yes, this monumental change of the Supreme Court acknowledging the transgenders as any other human is celebratory but we cannot forget that in a world of trillions, some people who do not understand or accept anything other than the binary ideals of gender still walk the earth and attempt to make the lives of such people difficult. Even though the Constitution has passed the Protection of Rights Bill, many civil servants refuse to help transgenders and indulge in violent activities because they do not accept the bill or the existence of such persons. Members of the trans community are still subject to the same amount of harassment as before, if not more. 

Members of the transgender community such as Revathi and Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi have openly spoken about their struggles in their autobiographies to show the world the kind of harassment that every transgender person has to face in today’s world. While many succumb to these inhuman challenges, people like Lakshmi and Revathi have not only fought their battles but are now helping millions of other transgender’s fight as well. Many non-profit organizations have also dedicated themselves to help such people. The usage of terms such as “coming out” or using the term as a hijra only for insults, shows the deep-rooted hatred for such people among us and while many transgenders are moving up in society, the social issues that they face since birth are still probable in society. While the mindset of people is slowly changing, whether a complete change will ever be possible is a point of debate among scholars today. As citizens of India, we should all accept this natural entity even if we fail to understand the mechanisms of it.

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WAVES OF FEMINISM

The modern wave of Feminism called the Fourth wave which began around 2008, has its roots in the First, Second and the more recent Third Wave of Feminism.          

• First wave Feminism arose in the 19^th century with the aim of bringing about equality as well as ensuring women’s suffrage in the countries of United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Canada, but however was not limited to only these four countries. In the Indian context. The first wave was set in the backdrop of the 19^th-20^th century, beginning with an attempt to eradicate evils like Sati, child marriage, and introducing ideas of increased literacy among women, allowing widow re-marriage, bringing changes in property laws, etc.
• The Second Wave of Feminism (post-1920) on the other hand, argued for women’s rights to abortion, birth control, and overall control over their own bodies, opposing the patriarchal family’s sexism and sexual control over their bodies. Therefore, it had a more radical element to it, in contrast to the first wave. In India, the second wave retained its radical nature, as women became more engaged in the public scene, and participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement as a part of the Nationalist struggle. Emphasis was placed on women’s education, their livelihood and also led to the founding of many new organisations for the upliftment of women, as a whole.  
• The third wave of feminism emerged in response to the failure of the second wave. It was to challenge the second wave’s idea of ideal feminism which highlighted the struggles of only white upper-middle-class woman. They decided to shift the aim of the movement to ensure that every woman despite its colour and family background is respected and given equal rights. It was not only related to sex and gender but caste and colour too. The concept of lesbianism also came into the forefront during this wave. Earlier lesbians felt sidelined by both women and gay liberation but eventually, it became a part of the mainstream women’s movement. This wave also demanded the right to contraception and birth control. Feminists also fought for social acceptance of female sexual freedom. They demanded sexual equality for the freedom of women. Thus it became a very important wave in shaping the concept of modern feminism.
• The fourth wave is a very recent development within the movement which began in 2008. It is connected with technology. It focuses on issues like sexual abuse, rape, violence against women, body shaming, homo and Tran’s phobia, equal wages, sex work acceptance and most importantly male feminism. It is an ongoing wave that aims at ensuring equality and removing patriarchy and misogyny from the world.

INTERSECTIONAL FEMINISM

One of the most important by-products of the Feminism movement, especially the third and fourth waves, was the emergence of the Intersectional Feminist Theory, which was propounded by a Civil Rights activist called Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw about 30 years ago. According to her, “Different things make different women vulnerable,” which basically sums up the core ideology of the Intersectional Feminists. If anything is for certain in this world, it’s the persistent presence of diversity as different factors like race, caste, class, disability, immigration, belonging to the LGBTQ community, identifying as indigenous people, etc. has an impact on the lives people live.                                                                                                                                                 

The aim of this theory is to bring about an end to the exclusive nature of the Feminism movement of the past and make it inclusive for women of all races, castes, classes, economic standing, etc. For a long period of time in the history of Feminism, the movement mainly focused on middle-class white women and therefore failed to look at the problems of the other sections of women, who were in almost all cases, in a far worse state. This “white feminism” that generalized the entire feminist movement on the basis of the experiences of white women, is however sadly, not just a thing of the past. While intersectional Feminist theory has continued to highlight its problematic aspects over the ages, “white Feminism” can be seen in play (either covertly or overtly) in fields of entertainment, music, sports, and in general workplaces. But women from all over the world gave not failed to speak up over such issues, one such example being when Nicki Minaj, a 37-year-old Black woman rapper and singer, spoke about how almost always, those videos which were nominated in award shows, showed white and slender-bodied women. 

The theory of Intersectional Feminism becomes even more significant in the context of India, as it remains the most diverse nation in the world, and therefore brings into light a number of other factors that collectively result in oppression. One such important factor is Caste, which has been a crucial aspect of Indian society since the very beginning. Evidence suggests that Indian feminism for the longest time mainly focused on Upper caste women. History gives insight as to how education was a privilege only for Brahmin women, and how the education imparted was mainly on how a woman should become a good daughter, wife and mother. Even today, education remains a privilege for those living in poverty, especially the female children in those households, as most often it is the boys who are sent to school. Statistics suggest that about 32.5% of women drop out of schools at the secondary level. 

PSEUDO-FEMINISM

Being a feminist is something to be proud of, but being a pseudo-feminist is a whole different thing. Anyone who calls themselves a feminist knows the difference between feminism and pseudo feminism. Feminism is all about genders having equal rights and opportunities. It aims at achieving equality and equity despite a person’s gender, race, caste and colour. It believes that a woman deserves respect like any other human being. But pseudo feminism accosts that women deserve more respect than any other person. They don’t aim for equality but they want a world ruled by women, and while they seem to want an end to misogyny, whether knowingly or unknowingly, engage in misandry or male-hating. In a world, where feminism is still seen as a detrimental movement, pseudo feminism gives people the upper hand to legitimise the flaws of the whole movement. It somewhere tarnishes and wrecks the idea of the actual feminist movement. A lot of people don’t even know that they are pseudo feminists and they keep claiming themselves as feminists, without even understanding the consequences of their actions. This leads to people misunderstanding the concept of feminism and thus not supporting it. Hence the terms feminism and pseudo feminism are most of the times used interchangeably. Despite the fact that these are two different concepts, people often mistakenly consider it the same. People should have enough knowledge so as they can differentiate between the two and comprehend both the concepts. They should not withdraw their support from the idea of feminism which aims at achieving equality, by perplexing it with pseudo feminism.

CONCLUSION

Feminism is all about ensuring that equality prevails in society regardless of a person’s gender, caste, colour, and sex. It emerged in the late 19th century and is an ongoing movement, which occurred in 4 waves.                                                           

An important aspect of Feminist theory is keeping in mind, privileges that each woman has that another might not. For instance, a white middle-class woman is privileged in ways more than a black middle-class woman. Likewise, a cis-gendered white woman is more privileged than a white woman belonging to the LGBTQ community. Therefore, it’s crucial to recognise, as women, involved in the Feminist movement, our privileges and work effectively so that women who are not as privileged can acquire similar opportunities.                                                              

The concept of Pseudo feminism differs from that of feminism and so both the terms should not be used interchangeably. People should realise the importance of feminists’ movement and understand the struggles and lack of privileges that women hold in their lives. Various feminist movement and principles have evolved over the years, representing different aims and viewpoints. Some theories are criticized while others are actively supported. Despite this, the basic idea of feminism of achieving equality is widely supported and has emerged as a very important movement in the history of many countries.

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