In my Opinion, the African Society is oppressive. It is ironical though to state this fact because the people make up the society. That means people are the ones oppressing themselves? Yeah so it seems. Our Masculinity and Feminity is so fragile, we question it at every point and we go at massive length to prove that it is indeed not fragile. We have this standardized expectation of our genders, then we frustrate and judge each other for not meeting these standards. It is quite common to hear this phrase in African society “A man does this” “A man must not do that”
Some of these standards we have set are so unnecessarily high, it is almost ridiculous to hear them. Some of us are bold enough to fight these standards but hey, you can’t do it too much, if you do not want to be judged, but then who cares? It is also hilarious to know that some of us that revolve against these standards actually do that because it doesn’t favor us. We hate the societal rules we want to go against, the ones we will certainly go against. Unconsciously we have our own standards too, things that should be done simply because it is the “right” thing to do. These standards might have been influenced by our upbringing, people that influenced us while growing up. We only fight against the ones we were taught to hate.
Get me straight, I am not of the opinion that all rules guiding our society is absolutely unnecessary. They are but not all are. A society normally is complex but the African Society is more complicated. The most frustrating way to know the standards of the African society (some of these standards) is Twitter, especially TwitterNg. There are so many people on there, ready to attack and set things straight concerning standards. “A man has to pay for everything” “I can’t cook for my man, I am not a slave (this is one of the modernized standard, actually makes me laugh) “I will cook for my man, he has to eat my Food” this usually goes in the circle of someone stating something against these standards and then everyone getting angry and setting the 0ffender straight. The circle never changes. I hardly interest myself in silly home front standards, the ones that prick my attention and bothers me a lot are ones like “My Wife belongs to the other room” ‘A full grown Man can have a child-bride” “A single woman at 26 is wasting away” ‘A man that isn’t excessively rich is NOT a man” “A man can cheat, he is a man, men do these things” These standards have cause more internal havoc than we care to share. They have caused untimely death, increased crime rates and so on but these are not seen as a result of these standards.
The most hilarious and ridiculous standard that has just been unveiled is the sitting position of peter Okoye of P-Square beside the billionaire Dangote. The internet trolled him and made comparison between Peter and a popular snap chat drama she-male with the name Boborisky. This snap chat drama she-male is a man that dresses, behaves and talks like a woman, such a confusing personality. The point here is when peter was compared to this drama queen. The society is unknowingly setting a standard again, that men cannot sit cross legged without being confused about their sexuality. Leading us back to the standard “A Man does not sit that way” as hilarious and stress reliving those internet meme were, they are also dangerous. A Person can sit anyhow they want. It doesn’t reduce their sexuality.it doesn’t change anything.
I hope whoever is reading this article learns how to laugh at these standards and never let them determine his or her life course. Funny or not, these standards can ruin you if you let them.
Twiiter @_Fraulious
