Gender

The first time that I remember becoming aware of my

> gender identity and that of those around me was

> probably when I was in nursery school. Of course we

> all new that there was boys and girls, but thats as

> much as we ever gave any thought to it. You could

> notice even at that young of an age how the boys

> played with the trucks and building blocks and the

> girls would play dress up and barbie. Other than

> that, its really hard for me to try and remember

> when

> I was a young kid. Its a lot easier for myself to

> look at children now and see the differences between

> boys and girls and even the roles that society plays

> upon them. I think that growing up as a young boy,

> certain stereotypes were placed in your head at a

> rather young age. Whether it was the media i.e..

> (movies, television ect.), friends or family, the

> boys

> learned how to act as did the girls. The boys were

> the ones who were told to play cowboys and indians,

> sports, to like fighting, cars, motorcycles, pretty

> much everything that the stereotypical male likes;

> while the girls were always taught to play dress up,

> house, tea parties, cooking ect. Boys were always

> taught not to cry while the girls were taught to

> express their feelings more often. As for myself, I

> guess you could say that I am the "All American

> Guy,"

> at least thats what my girlfriend tells me. I love

> sports and have played them my entire life. I am

> into

> cars and trucks and also have my own Harley Davidson

> motorcycle. I enjoy going to the gym, watching old

> westerns on tv and would rather watch a shoot em

> movie

> than a chick flick.

> Growing up I don't think that there were any

> specific

> gender expectations put on me that weren't put on my

> sister. No one in my family ever told me I had to

> be

> mr. tough guy and never cry. My sister and I both

> played sports at a very young age because we thought

> that they were fun things to do. As far as roles

> around the house I think that I just gravitated

> towards my dad (my social role model) more and my

> sister to my mom; so of course I would be outside

> helping my dad do the yard work while my sister was

> inside helping my mom do the house work. I don't

> think that either one of us would have liked to

> trade

> positions which each other because we liked doing

> those things better then the other. As far as our

> behavior growing up we were both held to the same

> standards. My parents weren't necessarily strict,

> but

> they expected my sister and I to act a certain way

> when in public or at a family function or in church.

>

> Obviously the two of us would dress very different

> with her wearing dresses and myself pants, but I

> think

> thats pretty universal. It wasn't until later in

> life

> that I started to see for myself the different

> stereotypes put on boys and girls.

> I was aware of my affection for girls around the

> fourth grade. Thats when I guess you could say I

> had

> my first crush. Before then girls were always girls

> and had cooties. It was about that time and later

> on

> that boys and girls started to become boyfriend and

> girlfriend, however it wasn't until middle school

> and

> then high school that they started to do boyfriend

> and

> girlfriend things. At that time it seemed that if a

> girl had a lot of boyfriends or guys she was seen