#gender000

Y'know, as someone who grew up, contending with gender expectations, and alongside a brother who i admired for not letting gender expectations keep him from getting into childcare and cute things (Pokémon, My Little Pony), and who encouraged me to be unafraid to publicly like cute things, it annoys me when society acts like "the only reason men can like something is for sexual reasons". They did it to the Bronies, when they assumed all Bronies only like MLP:FIM because "they must ALL be sexualizing the ponies". Some people did buy weird body pillows. But that wasn't everybody! "Heaven forbid" a man enjoy a good show for being wholesome, well written, and entertaining! 😮‍💨

We complain about men being nothing but sex pests, but we don't allow men to be anything but sex pests. 💢

Back when I was trying to figure out my gender, one of the big reasons I was sure I couldn't ever be male (aside from intrinsically feeling so definitely female), was because I didn't envy the pressure society put on boys. They're not allowed to feel anything. And yes, at the time, I was doing that repression to myself, but if it wasn't for the fact I was female presenting, then everyone around me wouldn't have encouraged me to have healthier emotional expression, constantly. The emotional repression expected of males is pretty dumb.

Let them like cute things and be into "girly" stuff without assuming weird reasons. My brother always has. And he taught me not to be afraid of my "feminine" side. Him being a a former football linebacker, visibly enjoying romance genre media and cute things, is a lot braver than that overcompensating "machismo" that kid-me tried to live up to.

I was just listening to this vid last week, that I think referenced the same academics.

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