Toxic masculinity is thought to have been created by toxic females, according to Candace Owens. Owens is a well-known black, female author, and a huge critic of the BLM movement. She recently posted a Live Stream on Instagram where she was very upset about the December cover of Vogue Magazine.

Harry Styles is the first man to go solo on the cover of Vogue. You would think a huge congratulations would be in order for this shatter in gender stereotypes, but instead critics attacked him. For his outfit, Vogue had Styles wear a long blue dress with black lace. Styles has been known for the past 5 years as being very fashion forward in the industry, so for his supporters, this was nothing new.

Ben Shapiro and Owens made several tweets and comments regarding their disgust for Harry’s disregard of gender standards, but Harry Styles is not the first man, nor the last to express his feminine side through clothing.

Cross dressing has been a powerful tool for all genders for quite some time. Some other important examples of men in dresses are David Bowie and Kurt Cobain. This is nothing new. One of the comments that Shapiro made, was that no nation can survive without mentally and physically tough men, implying that because Styles was wearing a dress, he is weak.

I would have to argue there, and say that Styles wearing a dress is one of the bravest thing he could do with his platform as an artist and social media influencer. He has so much power when in comes to influencing children who want to be different, and express themselves like him. It is very scary in today’s society to be different, though we are now more accepting than before, Americans are still quick to rush to judgement. No person should be discriminated against for any piece of clothing they decide to put on their body. It is their body, their life.

This issue is not political at all, it is human rights, but most outspoken people that have a problem are well-known conservatives. Their main issue with this current awakening of denying gender standards, is that masculinity is attacked. This is another example of twisting words and movements along with gaslighting.

The BLM movement was also turned around into a “negative marxist group.”  BLM simply means black lives matter. No one ever said nor implied that ONLY black lives matter. Some have twisted it into something that was an attack on them. Of course all lives matter, that goes without saying. The the ALM movement itself is just a rebuttal towards human beings feeling displaced in society.

The same thing has been done here, with outspoken conservatives saying that for one man to express themselves and wear the clothes they buy is an outright attack on any man that wants to dress or behave masculine. For the men in dresses, all people cross dressing, and the supporters of these people that is not the goal and has never been the goal.

The main thing that cross-dressers and genderfluid embracers want to symbolize is that you can wear whatever you want and identify with whatever gender you prefer. If a man would like to dress masculine, no person from either end of the political spectrum will say anything, but if a man were to want to wear a dress, well I will let you guess what party would have a problem with it.

Stepping away from the politics of this, it is a human right to wear the clothes you want. Society has told us that we must identify with the sex we are born with, when it should be our choice. It affects no one if another person would like to cross-dress, so I encourage everyone to support their neighbor no matter how they dress, and to express yourself through your clothing if you choose.