7 Thoughts About Gender – from a 12-Year-Old Girl

I asked my 12-year-old about being a girl. Here’s what she said:

There’s nothing wrong with being a girl. But sometimes people try to make you into something that you really aren’t. Like a “girly girl” or a “tomboy”. But what are those things? They don’t really mean anything. I like doing my hair and I love the colour pink but I also love basketball and snowboarding.

And on TV the moms are always cooking and being safety freaks and the dads are always funny and sporty…

And in Grease, Danny is too embarrassed to be with Sandy when she is nice and smart and likes to read books but in the end she fluffs her hair up and dresses up to impress him and then he loves her and she is happy and they are super popular. There is much more to a girl than high heels and big hair.

My favourite commercials are the Always commercials because they interview girls and ask them their opinions about how they are treated as girls. They talk about things like how the girl emojis are all just girls getting their hair done, or their nails done, or getting married. And there’s one called “throw like a girl” where boys pretend to throw like a girl and they are all weak and then girls are asked to throw like a girl and they are strong and athletic. The Always commercials make me happy because they acknowledge things that are wrong.

Being female can even affect the jobs you get because people think that boys are smarter and stronger and braver.  

It is wrong that there are so many things that are wrong. You would think that by now, people would just be respectful. But people still try to make girls feel like they are less than boys. Everyone is just used to it. It’s on TV and online and in magazines and in songs. It’s everywhere.

I hope that one day things will get better for girls.