Men dont accessorize-New Era

Description: The writer expresses blatant stereotypical views on gender and opines over what he terms the “feminisation of men who accessorize and call it modern and retroÀ.

Analysis

Headline

From the onset a stereotype À“ of what men and women should wear or look like and how they are supposed to look and behave in general À“ is posited.

The headline: “Men don’t accessorizeÀ does nothing other than expose a personal attitudes toward men and women. Such sentiments, even if, used as opinion pieces, written in a humorous and seemingly harmless manner, do harm. They justify patriarchy and reinforce archaic views. They perpetuate stereotypes on gender roles and conduct and promote discriminatory practice.

The article kicks-in with sexist views and wraps with the same sentiment. He notes in one instance that too much accessories can create the impression that men are trying to de-throne females from their positions as fashion and accessories goddesses. This rather than serve as a qualification, continues to promote a single-minded focus.

The parting comment is about the writer’s female colleague is equally loaded. The writer describes his colleague as a gender expert in the newsroom and states that for the first time she too agreed with his sentiments, but all that remained now was to get her to get to put on skirts to work instead of her pants and that, that would be an achievement.

The opinion piece would have benefitted from some background research on changing fashion trends for both men and women and how both sexes could utilize the changing trends to their advantage.

Sexist language is used and the adjectives convey biases and stereotypes on gender. The intonation is that men who accessorise and are fashion-conscious are not ‘real men’.

The story sits on page 7 in a 43-page paper distributed on Fridays; its positioning illustrates the importance of these opinion pieces. Next to the opinion piece is another opinion piece that clearly bashes women who use skin lightening creams À“ the headline: “Fanta and Coke babes À“ too badÀ. This story echoes the sentiment of the article. It too makes fun of men who look different in terms of their dressing, and signals to younger men, keen to try out new trends, that they do not look or behave like “real menÀ.