The next gender-ation
Olwethu Leshabane on gender neutrality
Blogger Olwethu Leshabane uses her platform to help, inspire and initiate critical conversations. Her recent encounter with genderqueer youths while working with her foundation, The Red Wings Project, sparked a much-needed conversation surrounding gender perceptions and representation in SA.
“gender stereotypes, especially those displayed in the media, are biased. In SA, we have so much to deal with in terms of gender structures and patriarchy before we can segue into a place that is accepting of people who don’t subscribe to conventional gender distinctions. However, this point can’t be reached if mainstream media doesn’t lead the discussion in some way,” says Olwethu. “We haven’t even been introduced to the full spectrum of gender, and concepts like gender neutrality, formally as South Africans. When I say formally, I don’t mean a gender advocate or the likes. I mean in the media; a character on TV.”
Referencing Taylor Mason (played by Asia Kate Dillon), a non-binary identifying character who appeared in the second season of the US series Billions, she emphasises the importance of having a figure like this generate discourse that can continue on social media and in the households of everyday South Africans, and help broaden our understanding of these concepts, particularly when dealing with children who may be struggling to articulate what it is that they are feeling and experiencing.
This scenario became a reality for Olwethu during a recent outing with The Red Wings Project, a non-profit which seeks to address the lack of feminine sanitation in underprivileged communities. “At a recent outing, I came across young ‘girls’, who didn’t identify as girls and don’t want to dress or be addressed as such, but were also in need of the sanitary pads being distributed, yet, at the same time, were afraid of being ‘caught out’ should they reveal that they menstruate, too,” Olwethu explains. “Not everyone who menstruates identifies with femininity. And as a society, we need to relook at how we label certain natural aspects of individuals as biological occurrences rather than, ‘ You’re feminine because you menstruate,’ Perhaps femininity itself is a social construct,” she muses.
This subject has become extremely topical in the US, where celebrities like Jaden Smith, who was the face of Louis Vuitton’s spring/summer ’16 women’s collection, and Beyoncé, who, in the September issue of US Vogue, revealed how she plans on raising her children to not conform to stereotypical gender roles, are steering the conversation. When it comes to her own children, Olwethu is taking an open-minded approach, but is wary of the role society plays in the upbringing of children as well. “Assigning gender roles to our children in a country like SA, which is still very patriarchal, is sort of incidental and not something you plan on. That said, in our home, raising three boys tends to be a space that involves cars, trucks and playing outdoors in the dirt,” she says. “On the other hand, my kids have picked out pink boots when shopping, and worn my wigs in delight and glee on a few occasions. Does this make them children, all pure and exploring? Yes. Does it make them gender neutral? I have no idea. I see it as a personal choice as they grow older.”