#genderconstruct

Surfing the web for news and entertainment: What 9-Year-Old Boys Dislike About Masculinity... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/20/what-9-year-old-boys-dislike-about-masculinity-_n_6193228.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices #boys2men #genderconstruct #gendernonsense #genderissues #masculinity #instagay #internatinalmensday

The concept of gender construction amazes me. You are who you are and how you feel- not what you're told you are. We tell young girls that they can be anything want when they grow up. We are empowering them. But, when their response is "when I grow up, I want to be a man" the empowerment disappears. It is replaced by shame, and this is unacceptable. It is strange and difficult for most of us to understand. When I look at myself, at my body, at my core, I see a woman, I feel womanly, and I am a woman. For me, understanding the lack of connection between ones body and oneself is challenging, but it is also necessary. So much judgement is based without understanding, without empathizing. We don't need to empathize to accept- we merely need to open our eyes and see that gender is not black and white for some- it's grey all over.