Parker Chandler: Year 12Title: Real Men Don't...Barton Court Grammar School
I wanted to challenge the traditional approach to telling stories through the gender expression of the protagonist and the way he is perceived by the audience. Gender expression for men has always been so set in stone in society, a woman could be praised for not wearing makeup and traditionally more masculine things, whereas if a man were to don a skirt and lipstick he would receive the opposite treatment. Toxic masculinity creates such barriers in regards to men experimenting with how they present, I wanted to create a piece of art that captures that pain of not being able to express any sort of femininity as a man without getting negative societal backlash.
