"People grow up very quickly learning what is appropriate for our gender identities, it is part of our socialization as young people. Before we even start school, we are taught what we are supposed to wear, how we are supposed to act, how we respond to life, how we are expected to look and to behave, according to our gender. This is something that I have always struggled with in my personal life, coming from a very strong, maternal, single-parent family and growing up in a very tough small town where gender roles were sometimes blurred (we all grew up knowing how to chop wood, make fires and escape grizzly bear attacks). Of course I was socialized the same way as most women in this country/world, to be pretty for boys and to value my physical appearance more than anything else, and subsequently, to take care of male emotions (i.e. masculinity) as part of my duty as a female-bodied person. As I have grown in my adult life, I have always challenged what it means to be "feminine", while still embracing my female body and gender (but challenging misogyny and sexism in my behavior, appearance, attitude and general approach to life), and I have encouraged people close to me to do the same personal work.
My current work, Freedom to Choose, is all about just that; expressing your style, your personality, exactly how you want, without pressure from antiquated global social norms and pressures. I think that in today's world, we are moving more towards gender fluidity and lessening the importance of those cemented roles we formed very strongly in this country, in the 1950's, Leave it to Beaver world. My models in this project are all cis-gendered, meaning their gender identities match with their biological sex, however they display energy and mannerisms that are traditionally reserved for the opposite sex. Female models demonstrate strong, empowered, fierce femininity, while the male models empower a softer, sensitive and vulnerable."
