I often wonder when we started applying labels to everyone and everything. Obviously, the more complicated our language became, the more labels got created. But did the first cavemen have specific grunts for "Weird, nonconformist person not popular, ignore him/her"?
It seems we have to label people even though one label doesn't fully describe any body. Yet we try and make a label that does. "He's a conservative." "She's a Luddite." "They are Russian." That describes one factor - political leanings, religion, or nationality - but doesn't describe the person.
There's also the fact that some labels are double standards and sexist. A guy can do something and be cheered for it. A woman does it and she's made to feel ashamed. Sometimes it works the other way but not often. Usually when it does it involves something that is traditionally considered to be a female trait or responsibility.
So why do we try to pic people into categories and gender roles? Part of it is the way we got programmed genetically during the years our survival depended on clan structures and low technology. When it took several men working together to bring down enough animals to provide for the clan, the hunters had to be able to survive the rigors of the hunt. Men are, generally speaking, stronger and faster and more aware of danger than females. Females are, generally speaking, more attuned to tending for and raising the children and handling the domestic work, although some of that could require a lot of strength. Ever chop wood?
For the clans' survival, gender roles became established traditions and people were set into roles that utilized their skills best. People good at cooking became the bakers and cooks, people with deft hands sewed clothes and made objects needed for other jobs. So they got labels - Baker, Blacksmith, Hunter, Woodsman, Washerwoman, Tailor, etc.
As our technology developed it became easier for people to cross gender defined lines and take up other jobs. But simply because it was easier to physically do the job didn't mean it was socially acceptable to do so. We are not a species that adapts quickly and our mental attitudes are the slowest to change. We are quick to assume, faster to speak, slow to accept we can be wrong, and nearly impossible to get to apologize or admit we were wrong.
We use our traditions, our cultural standards, and our religions to keep people in narrowly defined roles. There has been some improvement over the past half century towards gender equality but there is still a lot of resistance. Children are still taught at home first so old attitudes get set in them before they start mixing with other children and ideas.
A good portion of the problem is that society tends to define what is morally right and wrong. As society changes, the morals also change. But people who are raised believing one thing is right tend to resist changes in society especially when it now tells them that what they were raised to believe in is wrong. Their society is what they try to hold on to and enforce on the new evolving society.
What we need to learn to do and teach our children to do is to look at the standards our society is setting without our standards getting in the way. A task that is practically impossible because we don't know how to be impartial. As impartial as I try to be, I know my views and values influence my judgement and thus my interpretation and evaluation of any changes society is making. But I at least make the effort and when I doubt my own impartiality I give myself time to let the concepts rattle around in the back of my brain before pulling them back out to look at them again.
Sometimes I change my opinion and sometimes I don't. But I accept the fact that I will not approve of all the changes made in society. Then again, I am but one person so my views have to be part of the whole and not the sole viewpoint. And when the majority decide against how I feel, I will accept it. Doesn't mean I'll like it but society is not one person.
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