Hobbies and the gender police

Not quite on trend as the last two entries but in some ways connected with that and a casual and rather unexpected response on another non sissy site but perhaps worth exploring.

The problem for most of us growing up was the mis-mash between what we liked, what we might do under the radar and the fear of what might happen if this was to be revealed to our peers.

For some unexplained reason gender - the more social side of being ones sex - starts to become a major issue from five upwards although really geta hold from around seven when boy and girls start to compare each other to mysterious check lists of what appropriate social behaviour based on your sex is and this often extends into likes and interests.

So while we typically experience issues around wishing to wear dresses, frilly socks and the like compared to anyone else with a male body, other things over time become issues too.

Girls until recently were ridiculed for wanting to play football or do physical feats of strength while boys it could be simple things like showing empathy while most others showed little, preferring the games girls played, maybe collecting and playing dolls.

It did get rather daft when nature study or liking one pop group - often one seen as "for girls" - over another or liking books over war comics which aren't really limited to one gender or another but more just beliefs that change over time.

That's where the inspiration for this post came in where person said how upon a male friend as a boy had come in to play  in his bedroom and verbally abused him for liking a group popular with girls just because he spotted their record, he followed it up by smashing it, thinking this would preventing him being girlish but really it was gender based intolerance  that in the end had no influence on his future life as an adult. Just anger about the times.

ll