You can’t be
sexist when you are a girl, right? Wrong. I’ve been sexist for most of my life
– whined about how there are no (or not enough) female icons, how girls are
given stupid dolls to play with while boys get cars, and so on. As a kid, I
hated having to play with other girls because the games would almost never be
any test of athletic ability, involve very little, if any, competition and
never get around to being half as fun as football. Being a tomboy was a
convenient social construct that allowed me to straddle the gender divide in
the playground.
It wasn’t until
I grew older and wiser (I like to believe) that I understood that the reason
women seemed a lot less cooler was because they hadn’t had a chance to do much
for a very long time. A lot of behavioural patterns that bothered me were the
result of social conditioning. I also came across some truly impressive women
in fields that are traditionally male-dominated, and that ended my whining for
good.
When I was a
kid, I wasn't particularly girly. But I do think it’s a lot better to be a
woman than a man. I’m really happy that I can never think with any part of my
anatomy other than my brain.
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