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Salem's "Strength Is Not How Much Muscle You Have" Post: I completely agree with what you're saying. Concrete stereotypes don't do anyone good, and they leave each of us feeling isolated and alone in our suffering. However, it's hard to escape the stereotypes. A lot of people feel like they cannot break down the walls that the media has used to confine them without ostracizing themselves entirely. The dynamic feels very much like it is confined within the lines of "either/or." It's hard to watch my male friends wrestle with their masculinity, just as it's difficult to watch my female friends struggle with defining their femininity. I also have friends who don't identify with any one of these categories, and defining what exactly that means to them has proved very difficult. Everyone wants to feel like they belong, but no one wants to feel like their have to sacrifice their authenticity. Because of this, we feel an intense, frustrating sense of cognitive dissonance, and we don't know what to do with ourselves. And in all of time, we haven't found a solution. I thought that you put the problem very eloquently, and I enjoyed you post.  


Blaise's "Emotional Pack Mule" Post: I think that you make an interesting point - one that I as a woman might never be able to fully understand. However, I think that the association of sternness with masculinity and vulnerability with femininity works both ways. I do not display any feelings of sadness or emotion publicly because I do not want to be told that I am "too feminine," or that my thoughts are illegitimate because I am female and therefore "too emotional." As a consequence, suppressed emotion builds up inside of me and oozes out of me as anger and frustration. I hope that we can start to alter the narrative now. I hope that the men in my life can start to feel authorized to talk about their feelings without fear of judgement and that the women around me are able to stop exaggerating their emotions because they think it will make them more feminine and stop hiding their emotions for the sake of keeping up appearances.

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