We’ve all grown up “knowing” that boys and girls like different things. Girls like dolls, ponies, and princesses. Boys like action figures, cars, and sports. Well that’s just crap. I don’t believe there’s any real distinction between boys and girls, other than the physical and the way they were raised. I was raised on Godzilla, Star Wars, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On the other hand, I was also raised watching Care Bears, My Little Pony, and Rainbow Bright. While I do still tend to lean towards the “boy stuff”, I don’t see anything wrong with the liking the other stuff as well. The My Little Pony movie was one of my favorites growing up. Same with Rainbow Bright. While I didn’t have any Barbies or plastic ponies growing up, I’m sure I would have played with those if I had.
These days, I still find lots of things that might be considered “girl stuff” interesting. Anime is a big thing in my life, and a lot of my favorites are very clearly directed towards girls. I absolutely loved Fruits Basket, I thought Princess Tutu was a total masterpiece, half the songs on my i-Pod come straight from Mermaid Melody, and right now I’m watching Sailor Moon. I’m fine with that. I honestly don’t see anything wrong with it, and I believe that most of the people I associate with feel the same way.
My issue is this: most people do not think this sort of thing is okay. If I had announced that I liked Sailor Moon while I was in Junior High, I would have been picked up and thrown into the trashcan before I could blink (it happened anyway, but that’s not the point). I like to think people are more open minded than this, but I think most parents would freak out if their boy asked them to buy him a Barbie doll, or if their little girl asked to be taken to a Monster Truck Rally. These gender rolls are stupid, simple minded, and just plain not needed in today’s “equality of the sexes” society. Boys should not be made fun of by their peers and called “gay” or “fag” if they like watching Sailor Moon, and girls should not be called names like “tomboy” for refusing to wear dresses and prefering to play in the mud than to be playing with dolls. It’s just plain stupid, and it pisses me off.
Thankfully, not everybody is like that. I know that most of the people I know don’t care one way or another. I know a girl that’s helping to run a booth at the big comic book convention, and several of my uncles are happier wearing dresses than bluejeans. I know girls that play with Bionicles and Transformers, and guys who think Sailor Moon rocks. My brother has a rainbow colored Care Bear in his room, and I spent half a day scouring all the stores within driving distance for a special purple My Little Pony figure I spotted on the Internet. Best of all, I’ve got a Mom and Brother that don’t judge me for my supposed “girly side”. So I know that a lot of people are willing to look past the gender rolls placed upon them by society, and just as many are willing to break from those bonds entirely. That’s the way it should be, and I can only hope that the number of us who think this way will continue to grow, until eventually it’s the those other, small-minded people who are the minority.
