If you’ve somehow missed all of the media hype surrounding Ruby Rose in the past couple of weeks, you’ve probably been living under a rock. This androgynous beauty is a model, actress, DJ, recording artist, television presenter and the face of Maybelline New York in Australia. Although she’s already a fairly big name ‘down under’, nobody in the West really knew who she was until her appearance in season three of the Netflix series Orange is the New Black.
So what is it about this tasty tomboy that’s getting everyone hot under the collar? With a boyish haircut, stunning bone structure and killer sense of style she seems to be “turning straight women gay” whilst redefining western beauty standards.
In a rather powerful music video called “Break Free” we see Miss Rose transition from a blonde, hyper feminine bombshell to a makeup-free, androgynous hottie. During the course of the video she hacks off her long locks, uncovers her tattoos, straps down her breasts and dresses in men’s clothing. Unafraid of leaving anything out, we even see Ruby pad-out her pants with a fake penis to make her feel like more of a man.
Increasingly we’re seeing celebrities and pop culture icons blur the lines between masculine and feminine. Recently Miley Cyrus spoke of her struggles with gender identity and how she resents being labelled as a woman; “I didn’t want to be a boy, I kind of wanted to be nothing.” Miley describes herself as being gender fluid, another term which is currently trending in popular culture. Rather than being absent of gender, a person who is gender fluid may identify as being more male or masculine one day and more female or feminine the next.
In mainstream society gender is often dismissed as being a black and white concept when in actuality it is very complex. In the majority of cultures around the world if you’re born with a penis you’re male and if you’re born with a vagina you’re female. In the West we’re programmed from birth to conform to these gender roles; girls are dressed in pink and given dolls, boys are dressed in blue and given toy cars.
Confining a person to such restrictive gender roles can cause problems during adolescence and in later life. We’re each born with arms, legs and a brain so why should our sexual organs define who we are as people? I personally have struggled with gender identity, never really identifying as male or female. Now that gender fluidity is more mainstream and socially acceptable I feel happy to just be a person. Some days I wear makeup, dresses and heels, other days I’m bare faced, wearing a snap-back cap and boy clothes. It feels good to just be me.
Could the normalisation of gender fluidity be a factor in the next wave of feminism? Rather than making women equal to men, can’t we all just identify as people? Well, whatever is happening right now, I like it.
Watch Rudy Rose’s Break Free video on You Tube HERE
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