Cultural Conditioning and Gender Roles

[reeay]

We are contextual beings - we act, react, and act in accordance to the context we are experiencing. In this light, behavior has to be interpreted by understanding specific context of a person's life. We see mass mobility among peoples across the globe. We interact with people from various cultures, we are exposed to multiple sub-cultures, we have unique experiences around 'acculturation'. All those factors then make the issue of culture/gender roles a more ideographic (unique to individual) and complex phenomenon.

As our consciousness grows I think we are urged to do things that seem more 'natural' to us. Perhaps a female person may take masculine roles bc they find that the masculine energy is strong within. They may attract people who compliment them with more feminine energy. They may have 'role reversals' (from the mainstream perspective), while spiritually speaking, they are expressing their inner nature, maybe? If this is uncomfortable or the natural urge is questioned or repressed, we have a wonderful catalyst to work with.

Culture and gender socialization offers us great catalyst for self-discovery and an opportunity to work towards 'individuation' (to review and to choose how we really want to be or live, and then living it). Individuated person would be able to be OK with who they are and be OK with how others live their lives bc they've come to a point of understanding & acceptance of self & other self. As Ra said: "Each entity must, in order to completely unblock yellow ray, love all which are in relationship to it, with hope only of the other-selves’ joy, peace, and comfort."