Wonderful 10 minute TED talk from Tony Porter about the unfair restrictions and expectations placed on men. 

My favorite line:

“My liberation as a man is tied to your liberation as a woman”

It really frustrates me when I hear people say that men don’t have inequalities that need changing, that are worth fighting. As a little girl I always felt offended when commercials featured women as the sole parents in a house hold “Mother knows best!”, “Mother approved!” What about Dad? Doesn’t he love his kids? Is loving your children or cleaning your house a terrible thing for a man to do? I also felt awful when coaches would call boys “little girls” and when I heard the word pussy used to make men feel weak, like they were walking vaginas or the idea of even having a pussy meant you were a weak, cowardly thing.

What about being a woman is so offensive that a man can be called one and immediately feel terrible? Does crying stop anyone from being brave or strong? Does wearing a skirt make you less successful? It’s not fair to place such extreme expectations on men just as it is unfair to place those expectations on women. We should hold people to standards based on what we know about them not based on what genitals they happen to have in their pants.