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inteligrrlMy sister and I have decidedly different taste in decorating. While my room is as basic and frill-less as I can get it, hers is covered in ruffles and as many romantic pre-victorian paintings as she can possibly fit (punctuated by the odd anime print up). I can't stand it, venturing into her space will at times make me nearly nauseous. I used to think it was simply because her things were to 'girly', but lately I've begun to think that isn't the reason.
I remember hating all things girly when I was little. It was all so pink, ruffly, romantic, and more than enough to push me into tomboyism. Most people who know me now have a hard time seeing me in that role as I've come to truly embrace my own femininity in the past several years. What changed? While I've evolved to some degree I think that what really happened was the world has evolved to fit me.
The subtle messages contained in female merchandising has come a long way since I was five and six years old. Barbie had safe jobs like nurse, teacher and stewardess. Today my baby sister has the Powerpuff girls who live to kick evil hinny without the help of any stupid Ken. The ruffles and romantics have gone the way of the hills and instead of being subtly told that our entire life's emphasis is to be attractive to men we are allowed to choose what we want to be. We are no longer one dimensional creatures to the world, but have taken for ourselves a dictionary full of adjectives. Princess, tiger, angel, slut, bitch, Queen, geek. We define ourselves, and tomorrow we can change the t-shirt if we want to because now we have control. Today's girls have what I wanted: the ability to say "I can be what I want, do what I want, imagine what I want because I am a girl and my life revolves around no man." The only girls boxed in by the old doctrines are those like my sister who choose to be. (which is fine so long as they're not choosing for me.)
Is it any wonder I'm excited about the future? If we can have come this far in a mere fifteen years imagine what the rest of it will bring.
I remember hating all things girly when I was little. It was all so pink, ruffly, romantic, and more than enough to push me into tomboyism. Most people who know me now have a hard time seeing me in that role as I've come to truly embrace my own femininity in the past several years. What changed? While I've evolved to some degree I think that what really happened was the world has evolved to fit me.
The subtle messages contained in female merchandising has come a long way since I was five and six years old. Barbie had safe jobs like nurse, teacher and stewardess. Today my baby sister has the Powerpuff girls who live to kick evil hinny without the help of any stupid Ken. The ruffles and romantics have gone the way of the hills and instead of being subtly told that our entire life's emphasis is to be attractive to men we are allowed to choose what we want to be. We are no longer one dimensional creatures to the world, but have taken for ourselves a dictionary full of adjectives. Princess, tiger, angel, slut, bitch, Queen, geek. We define ourselves, and tomorrow we can change the t-shirt if we want to because now we have control. Today's girls have what I wanted: the ability to say "I can be what I want, do what I want, imagine what I want because I am a girl and my life revolves around no man." The only girls boxed in by the old doctrines are those like my sister who choose to be. (which is fine so long as they're not choosing for me.)
Is it any wonder I'm excited about the future? If we can have come this far in a mere fifteen years imagine what the rest of it will bring.
