I think we have such strong reactions to gendered clothing because we have such strong reactions to gender in general – it follows a pattern. From the moment we're born into this world (literally), we're expected to live a certain way and follow certain unwritten rules of gender.
If we're assigned male at birth, we're expected to play with action figures, keep our hair short, wear shorts, date girls. If we're assigned female at birth, we're expected to play with barbies, grow out our hair, wear skirts, date boys.
Yes, these expectations are changing as we start pushing the limitations of gender and sexuality (shoutout to the feminist and gay liberation movements) but, whether people like to admit it or not, they're still there. We still have to break those expectations by coming out, and many people the world over still don't have the privilege to do so, or have their lives cut short in the process.
Expectations of gender do nothing for no one, in my opinion – and they're silly when you think about it for a bit. Why should it matter that a boy prefers wearing a skirt over shorts anyways? It's just a little bit of fabric – who cares? Well, apparently we all care a whole lot. It'll be interesting to see how we untie that knot going forward.
'The world’s perception of me was never mine to control.'
This. This is one of the most important realisations that anyone can come to. We can't control the ways in which we are seen, we can only control what there is to see. How people interpret our fashion, our physicality, our demeanour, is all in the eye of the beholder. The best we can hope to do is be true to ourselves.
Yes! The fact that most people don't see you the way you see yourself is a hard pill to swallow (at least it was in my case) but a necessary one nevertheless. If nothing else, it's a good reminder that we don't need to focus so much on what people think, because it was never something we had responsibility over in the first place.
I think we have such strong reactions to gendered clothing because we have such strong reactions to gender in general – it follows a pattern. From the moment we're born into this world (literally), we're expected to live a certain way and follow certain unwritten rules of gender.
If we're assigned male at birth, we're expected to play with action figures, keep our hair short, wear shorts, date girls. If we're assigned female at birth, we're expected to play with barbies, grow out our hair, wear skirts, date boys.
Yes, these expectations are changing as we start pushing the limitations of gender and sexuality (shoutout to the feminist and gay liberation movements) but, whether people like to admit it or not, they're still there. We still have to break those expectations by coming out, and many people the world over still don't have the privilege to do so, or have their lives cut short in the process.
Expectations of gender do nothing for no one, in my opinion – and they're silly when you think about it for a bit. Why should it matter that a boy prefers wearing a skirt over shorts anyways? It's just a little bit of fabric – who cares? Well, apparently we all care a whole lot. It'll be interesting to see how we untie that knot going forward.
'The world’s perception of me was never mine to control.'
This. This is one of the most important realisations that anyone can come to. We can't control the ways in which we are seen, we can only control what there is to see. How people interpret our fashion, our physicality, our demeanour, is all in the eye of the beholder. The best we can hope to do is be true to ourselves.
Yes! The fact that most people don't see you the way you see yourself is a hard pill to swallow (at least it was in my case) but a necessary one nevertheless. If nothing else, it's a good reminder that we don't need to focus so much on what people think, because it was never something we had responsibility over in the first place.