Resist the Tyranny of Pink Princesses and Blue Heroes!
YES. THIS.
I will be the first to admit that girl toys/clothes/colors vrs. boy toys/clothes/colors confused me as a kid. When I was little, I wore poufy dresses because they were pretty and wore my hair long because I could. I played with my little ponies and model horses (I had all of three barbie dolls, because they were boring). Then as a teenager I got it into my head that being girly and feminine meant you were 'weak', because girls and boys couldn't do the same things. So I cut my hair, started wearing boy's shirts, and hated pink. I asked - and received, because my mom was awesome - a toolkit and a table saw for my birthday one year. I even started hating my own name because it was clearly a 'girl's name'. I did everything I could to act like a boy so I could be 'strong'.
But that's not how it works. I resisted being who I am because of an image I was trying to fit into, and later a mold I was trying to resist. *Nowdays*, I know better. But that doesn't change the years I tried so hard to be something I wasn't, because I thought I had to.
Although I still don't like my name, but that's another story.
I will be the first to admit that girl toys/clothes/colors vrs. boy toys/clothes/colors confused me as a kid. When I was little, I wore poufy dresses because they were pretty and wore my hair long because I could. I played with my little ponies and model horses (I had all of three barbie dolls, because they were boring). Then as a teenager I got it into my head that being girly and feminine meant you were 'weak', because girls and boys couldn't do the same things. So I cut my hair, started wearing boy's shirts, and hated pink. I asked - and received, because my mom was awesome - a toolkit and a table saw for my birthday one year. I even started hating my own name because it was clearly a 'girl's name'. I did everything I could to act like a boy so I could be 'strong'.
But that's not how it works. I resisted being who I am because of an image I was trying to fit into, and later a mold I was trying to resist. *Nowdays*, I know better. But that doesn't change the years I tried so hard to be something I wasn't, because I thought I had to.
Although I still don't like my name, but that's another story.