Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross

Better Orgasms. Better World.

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I remember as early as kindergarten realizing that the boys in the stories we read at school got to do all the fun stuff - fly kites - build forts - run with dogs and throw things - while the girls were relegated to the sidelines - staying home - helping mother - always waiting for the men/boys to come home so they could tend to them. Yuck. I wanted to be a boy simply because it seemed like more fun.

Luckily my parents were pretty easy-going about gender roles and as kids both my brother and I learned how to fly kites, build forts, and play ball outside as well as do our own laundry, clean bathrooms and prepare meals. But I bet you can guess which parent taught which skills!

My daughter is now 17 and recently filled out a job application asking if she had any special skills or hobbies. I was fascinated to read what she listed, "Drawing, ballroom dance, singing, sewing, baking, wilderness survival and home re-construction." (Yes, she wields a mean hammer, can tango and bakes better than anyone I know.) I think the point is, let's give our children full access to the entire gamut of human activities, interests and responsibilities, then see what they gravitate toward.

I suggest reading "As Nature Made Him, the Boy who was Raised a Girl", it shows that gender identity is not pushed on us by some patriarchy, but most likely the result of biochemical processes during fetal development; be it traditional gender roles or what would be deemed "gender identity disorder".

I don't think gender identity is pushed on us; however, I do believe that the beauty myth...the virginity myth...and competition among girls is pushed on us.  Every fairytale is about how a beautiful woman is saved by her prince.

What if you're not beautiful?

I think societies notion of universally appreciated beauty is just as ridiculous as a notion of universally appreciated music. Music and hotness for me are diverse. 

I think the conservative and very specific notion of gender identity is pushed on our subconscious by our culture and as an antidote to that heres Robert Plant looking gorgeous :)

Many people would probably think that a little girl in a Spiderman costume is cute. She might be teased by her peers, as one girl recently was because she was crazy about anything 'Star Wars', and 'Star Wars' was seen by her classmates as a 'boys only' franchise. A boy who liked to dress up as 'Wonder Woman', though, would probably be physically bullied and tormented beyond endurance---if his parents hadn't taken him to a psychiatrist first.

Yes, I have female parts, and I do wear make up and dresses. When I am on business functions I wear feminine clothes and I like them, I can cook make biscuits ( my daddy toughs me my mom wouldn't know where to begin...lol. When I'm not at a business fu tion and can just be me I wear t shirts and "gym shorts" though I put a "feminine touch as my mom says and they do match" I can shoot a gun quite well, I enjoy shooting skeet, driving a semi truck and salt water fishing, I can rig a line and clean my own fish also. I also enjoy buying make up wearing it and shopping! I was labeled a tomboy growing up and my mother called me a dike when I was in 5th-9th grade don't remember it after that but she probably did it just don't remember. Ive had awesome relatio ships with guys because I enjoyed hunting/ fishing / and NASCAR. I often thought maybe this was because I was raised in south Ga, and my love for guys gym shorts probably developed as their were the approiate length before long female shorts were made which I now have and wear and my mother still doesn't really care for them, but that is her issue....I went to a private Christian school up until I was in 11th grade and no shorts could be worn to school and for sports and cheer leading the shorts or shirts couldn't be shorter than 2in above the knee....at least the the cheer leading skirts didn't have to be below the knee I know some schools we played thAt their cherleading shirts were longer, are knees really that sexy? Carlin I too resented getting dolls for Christmas. My mom still buys me very feminine items today she has never bought me anything remotely masculine and resents when my dad buys me guns/knives/tools or fishing equipment...she says I'm a girl and shouldn't do such things. She just recently after 4 years tobe happy that I can drive a semi truck. I've always wondered why I couldn't like the things I like and every one just get over wanting to know why I did t like or use a simple product sipuch as make up or a curling iron and hair spray daily! I have a vagina but I refuse to be molded to traditional female roles,

I loved getting dolls for Christmas, also got trucks and cars, but not enough toy horses! I consider myself fairly androgynous, though a boyfriend with wide experience told me I was the most feminine woman he had ever been with. I am very domestic (big believer in radical domesticity) and also very outdoorsy, at least when I am not crippled.

I think children should be offered a range of choices, but can play perfectly happily without guns and makeup.