As you might have already noticed, I am not your average girl, or what a “normal” girl is supposed to be. I don’t wear dresses, or skirts (whatever the difference is), I don’t curl my hair or dye it, I don’t know what any kind of makeup is called, let alone know how to use it. Instead, I wear baggy clothes, have the same hairstyle everyday (since the 8th grade), and never wear makeup.
Ever since I could remember, I’ve always questioned why girls gravitated towards one sort of thing, while boys gravitated towards another. At age four, I wanted to play with my brother’s toy soldiers, not play dress up with my dolls. At age seven, I wanted to take Tae Kwon Do classes, not ballet. At age nine, I wanted to play baseball and soccer. At age twelve, I wanted to play the bass guitar, which apparently is a “boy instrument” according to the salesman at Guitar Center. At age fifteen, I wanted to play the biggest and loudest drum in Drum Corps, one that no girl had ever played before in a parade. Now at eighteen, I want to join the military.
All my life, up to this point, I’ve had to prove myself to everyone else. That I could do it, whatever it was, just as well, or even better than others could. When everyone told me I couldn’t, I only had a few tell me I could and will do it. Having to constantly compete with other people’s idea of what a “normal” girl, over time, caused me to become tougher and more determined to prove them wrong. Now, whenever someone tells me that I cannot do something, for whatever reason, I make it my mission to do it.
Doing things that were widely perceived to being “boy” activities has shaped me into the person I am today. I always set out to do my best in anything that I do, including school work. I don’t make excuses, but find ways to get things done.
I’m not your “typical girl”, but then again, who is?
You go JooJoo!
You beat them boys.
Jay, no amount of words can begin to express how much your post resonates with me. The foundation of my life had been structured on gender roles and people attempting to force their opinions onto me, but the key word is “attempting”. I was always drawn to legos, cars, sports associated to boys, constantly hearing “you can’t do that, you shouldn’t.” But who are we to be told where our power ceases, where our boundaries lie? This is such a influential element of my life that in fact my own first FRO journal entry had this issue as the core. While, unlike you I do partake in the occasional makeup, or stereotypical “girl” activities, I do believe that a girl is anything she wants to be. Stereotypes and gender roles define, however, females are limitless and a force to be reckoned with. They can’t be attributed to one portrayal or mold, and if society tries I know people like you will never stop shattering them.