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May. 7th, 2011 11:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatHee, I'm watching Smallville and apparently Superboy aka Connor is the genetic/DNA combination of Lex Luthor and Clark Kent - in short what would have happened if they actually got together and had a kid.
Trying to talk myself into going apt hunting. It's a nice day, but I hate apt hunting. Not a shopper.
Sometimes I wonder about myself - I seem to have not gotten some of the traditional girl genes. Don't like dresses. There's a reason for this - I discovered early on that you can't do as much in them - you can't climb a tree, run, climb a jungle gym, hike a mountain, crawl through tunnels, sit with your legs akimbo, there's just so many things you can't do in a dress. You can't play bombardment or red rover, or dodge ball. Or soccer. Or go horseback riding (without a lot of discomfort). Or ride a bike (also without a lot discomfort). But in jeans? The sky's the limit. See? I was an active kid unlike my neice. Despise shopping for anything that isn't a book, CD or DVD. Despise getting haircuts and do it once a year. Consider manicure and pedicures a waste of money and long nails while pretty, impractical for typing and drawing. And procrastinate buying shoes...most are practical and I'll only wear heels if I have no other choice. But I wouldn't describe myself as a tomboy, exactly. I like earrings. Hate rings and bracelets - they get in my way. Climbed trees as a child. Loved track and field and swimming. But not into spectator sports - except for maybe soccer and basketball - which I had played and you just can't do in a skirt.
I think about these things because a few days ago, Momster reported the following story about my 7 year old niece (see icon):
Niece about little girl playing with pants and her shirt off: Who is that little boy?
Sisinlaw: that's a little girl.
Niece: Oh. I guess it would be nice to be a boy. But then boy's can't wear dresses, like girls can. They look silly in them. So I'm glad I'm a girl. Because I love wearing dresses.
UGH!!! Seriously, what we put on our bodies shouldn't be a reflection of our gender. It's silly.
If she had said that to me, I'd have said - actually you can wear a dress if you are a boy. It's okay. Just depends on the situation. For the same reasons that you may not want to wear a dress to climb a tree, you might not want to wear pants to do a contra-dance or waltz, skirts are more fun. So much for my brother's attempts not to have my niece think in gender specific terms.
Yet we do. OR I do. Over the phone the other night Momster and I were discussing bullying in school.
She was stating that girls are meaner, crueler. And I said, no, just mean differently. Girls fight with words or verbally, while boys fight physically and are brutal physically. I'd been teased by both. The boys were more physical with their teasing and pranks. The girls more verbal. Although there were exceptions. Oh, yes, stated Momster, that's true - you're brother got a broken nose. The verbal teasing was actually easier. But...
Every time I make a generalization - I feel my father's verbal slap upside my head. He would always say - that's a broad generalization or assumption, back that up! Or where'd you get that from? I think it comes from his own frustrations growing up, being poor and struggling with class prejudices, and his experiences traveling with his black roommate through the deep south. He's told me stories about that. It may also be due to the fact that he got his degree in social history - specializing in Black History. Although he became a businessman, not a historian. Life seldom goes as we plan. At any rate - he taught me at an early age to critically analyze everything, to think it through, not to jump to conclusions. And he still does...often stating, you are jumping to conclusions again. I was taught at the age of 7 to value critical thinking above all things. For my father had to fight for his education, literally - got the GI Bill and worked hard for it. As did all of his brothers and sisters. I find this sad - that for some education is handed to them, while others fight for it. I remember fighting for it - and being annoyed at the kids who took it for granted.
I think I may skip the open houses today...and go get a haircut instead. It's getting too long and I'm pulling it up into a clip all the time now, which is headache inducing.
Trying to talk myself into going apt hunting. It's a nice day, but I hate apt hunting. Not a shopper.
Sometimes I wonder about myself - I seem to have not gotten some of the traditional girl genes. Don't like dresses. There's a reason for this - I discovered early on that you can't do as much in them - you can't climb a tree, run, climb a jungle gym, hike a mountain, crawl through tunnels, sit with your legs akimbo, there's just so many things you can't do in a dress. You can't play bombardment or red rover, or dodge ball. Or soccer. Or go horseback riding (without a lot of discomfort). Or ride a bike (also without a lot discomfort). But in jeans? The sky's the limit. See? I was an active kid unlike my neice. Despise shopping for anything that isn't a book, CD or DVD. Despise getting haircuts and do it once a year. Consider manicure and pedicures a waste of money and long nails while pretty, impractical for typing and drawing. And procrastinate buying shoes...most are practical and I'll only wear heels if I have no other choice. But I wouldn't describe myself as a tomboy, exactly. I like earrings. Hate rings and bracelets - they get in my way. Climbed trees as a child. Loved track and field and swimming. But not into spectator sports - except for maybe soccer and basketball - which I had played and you just can't do in a skirt.
I think about these things because a few days ago, Momster reported the following story about my 7 year old niece (see icon):
Niece about little girl playing with pants and her shirt off: Who is that little boy?
Sisinlaw: that's a little girl.
Niece: Oh. I guess it would be nice to be a boy. But then boy's can't wear dresses, like girls can. They look silly in them. So I'm glad I'm a girl. Because I love wearing dresses.
UGH!!! Seriously, what we put on our bodies shouldn't be a reflection of our gender. It's silly.
If she had said that to me, I'd have said - actually you can wear a dress if you are a boy. It's okay. Just depends on the situation. For the same reasons that you may not want to wear a dress to climb a tree, you might not want to wear pants to do a contra-dance or waltz, skirts are more fun. So much for my brother's attempts not to have my niece think in gender specific terms.
Yet we do. OR I do. Over the phone the other night Momster and I were discussing bullying in school.
She was stating that girls are meaner, crueler. And I said, no, just mean differently. Girls fight with words or verbally, while boys fight physically and are brutal physically. I'd been teased by both. The boys were more physical with their teasing and pranks. The girls more verbal. Although there were exceptions. Oh, yes, stated Momster, that's true - you're brother got a broken nose. The verbal teasing was actually easier. But...
Every time I make a generalization - I feel my father's verbal slap upside my head. He would always say - that's a broad generalization or assumption, back that up! Or where'd you get that from? I think it comes from his own frustrations growing up, being poor and struggling with class prejudices, and his experiences traveling with his black roommate through the deep south. He's told me stories about that. It may also be due to the fact that he got his degree in social history - specializing in Black History. Although he became a businessman, not a historian. Life seldom goes as we plan. At any rate - he taught me at an early age to critically analyze everything, to think it through, not to jump to conclusions. And he still does...often stating, you are jumping to conclusions again. I was taught at the age of 7 to value critical thinking above all things. For my father had to fight for his education, literally - got the GI Bill and worked hard for it. As did all of his brothers and sisters. I find this sad - that for some education is handed to them, while others fight for it. I remember fighting for it - and being annoyed at the kids who took it for granted.
I think I may skip the open houses today...and go get a haircut instead. It's getting too long and I'm pulling it up into a clip all the time now, which is headache inducing.
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-07 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-07 08:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-07 04:35 pm (UTC)I sometimes wonder about what the toy industry does to kids these days. Though the lines of gender are blurring more in adulthood they seem to get more pronounced in childhood. Early childhood used to be a save place from that, where children just play together and do more or less the same things before they are told to live some gender lie. But these days they start earlier and earlier to press those social constructs on.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-07 08:05 pm (UTC)And..they can't quite get past the culture we live in. The media overwhelms you no matter where you live with its continuous blast of information.
It has admittedly gotten better in some respects, but also, I think, more prevalent.
I was able to be a tomboy for a rather lengthy period. I made it until about the 5th grade, before I began to feel pressured to do things I did not want to do - such as put on makeup, wear hose, dresses, heels, etc. And enjoy it.