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Kelly Harding's avatar

Hmm. Interesting article. This really helped me understand something about this current phenomena.

I was the same as this girl growing up. I had boy friends. I was “weird” for a girl, preferring to crack inappropriate jokes with the boys, play sports, dig in the dirt for bugs, etc. I tried making girl friends but it was never as easy.

The main difference between our two stories is that for me, growing up in the late 90s/00s, I had female role models that looked like how I felt. I never felt compelled to be “hyper-feminine.” In the fifth grade Avril Lavigne hit the scene. She was absolutely a girl, but she wore baggy jeans and wife beater tank tops with loose ties. She dressed “like a man” without ever having to pretend she was one. In fact, she was very obviously and proudly a girl! Gwen Stefani wore cargo pants and vests with big bulky military boots. And yet, she was always quite obviously female.

Todays youth doesn’t have these types of females in their pop culture. They do have tons of “hyper-feminine” crap like the Kardashians. And the alternative, which is make-believe androgynous anime characters that don’t even exist.

Reading this just made me feel like these children are lacking the kind of varied expressions that even I had just a few decades ago. And their current influences (seems to largely be anime) present confusing and unrealistic standards.

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Mrs Miller's avatar

Thank you for this! Brightened my morning. You are so smart and strong. I’m so happy for you and your mom. Keep telling your story. It gives us hope. ❤️

Love this especially:

“Therapists need to toughen up and pry deeper into the causes of self-reported gender dysphoria.”

Therapists, educators, democratic politicians, and affirming parents who have think trans kids are just wonderful.

What a wake up call.

🙏🏼

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