Lenan Longman- Executive Producer/ Farah Chandani- Video Storyteller Jamila Apolinario & Sofia Abas /Audio Storyteller/ Ksenia Denisova – Writer & Researcher.
Society is evolving and we’re starting to feel it more and more. People keep pushing boundaries and redefining what people consider “normal.” Stephanie Chinn is one of those people. She was Seneca student who graduated from the Journalism program. Stephanie is a writer, illustrator and speaker who was hired to be a part of Michelle Obama’s voting initiative.
“No one finds themselves in a box!” This is what Stephanie Chinn wrote on her picture, featuring Jonathan Van Ness. He is the first man, wearing women’s clothing featured on the Cosmo cover. Jonathan identifies as a non – binary person, and doesn’t think of himself as a male or female however some non- binary people identify themselves as both genders.
“I was so inspired when I saw that he was put on the cover of Cosmo today that I cried in Tim Hortons, because this is just another way that we are pushing back against what is normal,” says Chin.
Another example of boundaries being redefined comes from Mattel. They have just released a new version of the classic Barbie doll. They created a doll, that can be a man, a woman or even gender-neutral.
But the shift has received some pushback from older generations. When the product was launched in the fall, surveys showed that only 5% of adults said they would want to buy this as a gift.
At the same time, research from 2018 shows that kids have better understanding of self-identity than their parents. With each generation, the leniency to the gender-neutral people is increasing
Companies like Mattel are under fire for making these types of shifts just to be popular. But Stephanie Chinn thinks that even if companies and influencers are doing gender neutral products to gain popularity, it is ok. As long as people are increasing awareness, it helps the society.
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