Men's Liberation

At a time when gender equality is being discussed more than ever before and feminism becoming the go-to card for hypocritical celebrities, it’d be nice to talk about men’s liberation & the mental chain with which the male child has been bound for generations. 

In an article on Nigerian culture written by Chinyere Elele (2002) of Inter Press Service, her opening sentence and first paragraph read “The birth of male children is still the source of pride and honour in Nigeria, while that of female children is seen as failure”. This is quite interesting coming from a female writer but I won’t be quick to celebrate this ‘importance’ as a man from South-West, Nigeria where I was raised and burdened with responsibilities from a tender age. It dawned on me that the celebration that stems from having male children is because it's assumed that a new burden-bearer had arrived.

From a tender age, responsibilities are been instilled into the boy child and he’s made to understand his ‘strength’ as a male. Oftentimes, he grows with the ‘leadership’ mentality and even in the face of excruciating discomfort, he’s culturally programmed never to wear his emotions on his sleeves or he’s automatically seen as weak. 

In a country like Nigeria where there are strict laws against homosexuality, the average gay boy from the slums in Makoko the world's biggest floating slum will rather die than publicly admit to being gay which will also guarantee his lynching. In the same community, I've personally seen lesbians (gay women) being treated like queens and special guest because of how 'naughty' they are. 

Regularly, the society judges neglecting that before people are categorized into sexes, we’re first human; with bodies that feel pain and a mind susceptible to psychological traumas. Religion and society have computed men into accepting that pleasing the opposite sex is paramount and a standard of measuring responsibility. 

If we hope to see a better generation of men, I'll highly propose that we stop entangling young boys with unnecessary mental burdens and allow them to naturally flow into life's chosen role.