Now I'm not one to pay much attention to ads, but this particular campaign on respect caught my eye. I often saw the ad about teaching young girls about how they deserve and should be respected. And I was definitely surprised to find that there was another perspective to the campaign of an ad teaching boys how to be respectful. It raised such important and relevant issues - how conversation and our words have power. How important it is to teach young children about mutual respect.
There are so many angles in how this could be taken. But what bothered me the most is how common the problem situations presented in those ads really are. How common domestic violence is. How common masculinity has been morphed into something else. How often women are settling for less and aren’t able to stand up for themselves.
These issues are so real in our world today. And I find myself often disheartened by the disrespect towards both women and men, domestic abuse, broken marriages and families, hatred, settling, comprising values and morals, indifference and discrimination. How people think it is okay to trample on others and to make decisions about others’ lives and identities.
Why is that though?
Women are often blamed, seen as weak or too emotional and vulnerable, made to feel like they aren’t good enough. Or they can be made to feel unworthy, and that their standards are too high that they need to lower their standards and their worth. So many women settle for less than they deserve because society tells them to, because that’s just the way guys are.
And with the fight to empower women, men are also being trampled on. Boys are being stereotyped and simply conforming to the way society boxes them in. Both women and men saying: “boys are boys, this is just the way it is”. That this is all normal and cannot be changed.
This shouldn't be normal. This isn't how it's meant to be.
Why don't we try to change that?
Why don’t we try and educate, and have these conversations? Why don't we try and use our words to make women know how they should be treated, how they are strong and how they should never settle? Why don't we tell boys and men that they're not stuck and aren't helpless? That they also have the strength to change. Why don’t we help those who do not have the courage to do what's right? Let us help and respect one another. In building one up it should not be at the cost of another.
Both women and men can empower one another, lift each other up. We were all created for a unique purpose, and are meant to live in communion with one another. Words and conversations have the power, let us direct that power in the right way. We are all worthy of loving and being loved. Each and every one of us is a unique and has a valuable soul. Let us use our words for good, in recognising the value and dignity of one another. Let’s use our words to make the changes the world so desperately needs.
janz.
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