Masculine vs feminine — it is always made to look as if everyone has a role to play because of their gender. But yolo, it’s your life, live it how you want, not how others want you to.

The dictionary definition of masculine is: “having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men.” For feminine: “having qualities or an appearance traditionally associated with women.”  

We, as humans, are given a lot of freedoms. We are born with our own personal liberties and choices, one of those being how we express ourselves. But in our society, we are pushed into corners on how we should look, what we should wear, how we should act, etc. Society is always trying to control and conform to everyone, only to try and make it seem like the perfect little world. 

It is absolutely ridiculous. The world has never been, and never will be, perfect. That is the best part of being human, being able to go out and try new things. Get things wrong, try again.

But to try and control things, it is exhausting. All it does is pull from you. Why not just let people live their lives their way, while you live your life your way?

“Masculinity and femininity are way too divided,” said AFHS junior Lee Lewis, a gender fluid member of the LGBT+ community. “It is literally something made up by people, by society, to separate between the quote-unquote ‘two sexes.’” 

Lee continued, “Like makeup, it is literally just like putting something on your face. We’ve labeled it as a woman’s product when in reality there’s nothing women like about it, it’s just a form of art.”

In modern times, makeup is seen as something only women should use, but in reality it started with men. 

The first uses of cosmetics can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians, used as a way to distinguish levels of royalty during death, of which they would use in the burial process.

Stretching from 400 B.C. all the way to the 1800s, many different cultures used makeup for men, using it as a form of art, mostly for stage performances because men were the only ones allowed to perform on stage. 

Things change all the time, with each year, each generation, every passing second. So when someone wants to change their style, or the way they act, or anything at all, they should be able to do so without any judgement or complaint from anyone.  

What someone else is doing with their life is not bothering anyone in reality. Sometimes, people just need to mind their own business.