Musings of a writer-ish person.

I was telling Ari the other day. I was wandering through the Big Bad Wolf Sale at midnight and glossing over the romance novels. As I moved through the genres, I noticed a stack of bound books.

"Classics for Girls."

I couldn't help but feel affronted. Not just affronted, a little insulted.

Why is the world divided so cleanly into 'Girls' and 'Boys'?

Why do things have to be 'FOR GIRLS' or 'FOR BOYS'?

At first it was clothing. I could accept that on some base level because of our biological make up and most probably occupations. Toys, princesses for girls, awesome motorized toy cars for boys. Classes? For boys and then for girls? Now we're dividing up books too?

The classics have always been the classics. Who's to say that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is 'FOR GIRLS' because the protagonist is a girl? Wouldn't a boy love it just as much? I know my brother did. And who's to say a girl can't enjoy 'Oliver Twist' because Oliver's a boy and the reader is a girl? Why?

Another thing I noticed as I browsed through the books was that all of the books geared towards girls focused heavily on dresses, fashion, looking pretty, household work and how to use 'feminine wiles' to get a man.

Maybe it's too much fic that I've read where the girls are strong, capable and equipped to deal with anything thrown their way. Maybe I've been dragged through issues that people consider trivial and silly and come out a little more jaded and distrustful of everyone. I don't know.

I'm just coming to realise that girls have been forced into stereotypes from a very young age. We've to rely on other people. We've to wear dresses, look pretty,be sweet, never lose our tempers, be good at sewing, cooking, cleaning, what have you and do all the housework after our jobs before our husbands come back.

Girls should look pretty. Boys should look handsome. But what if a girl wants to look handsome without being a boy? What if a boy wants to look pretty without being a girl? Does it really matter? Why do we have to box ourselves in so tight?

Maybe it's  because I'm slowly starting to identify as genderqueer. There are days when I do feel pretty. There are days that I feel more 'handsome' than pretty and there are days that I just am.

I keep asking myself. Why is it necessary, for a girl to show how girly she is? Why do we have to do everything in a way that reflects we are girls? Can I not wear boy pants? Can I not wear boy shirts?

Better yet, why bother to label at all?

No more 'for girls', no more 'for boys', just 'for people'.