Gender roles

Commented this on an friends blog here but thought it worth repeating, kind of a space I've been thinking around Pride (it was great, surprisingly, btw - if hella wet like today!)

I've just been reading the Pigtail Pals blog because an LJ friend mentioned buying some of their 'Redefine Girly' tshirts for a relative - very cool. Weirdly ;ooking forward to Brave now...me? An animated Pixar film? Actually sometimes that does happen...

Anyway this post about boys reminded me in a strange way of when I grew a beard then came out - a lot of my family & a few friends thought the beard was me trying to 'hide' who I was or 'butch up'. I frankly was surprised by this, because really it equates feminine/cleanshaven with gay - whereas I just liked and found beards attractive. That hadn't even crossed my mind...finding fellow people I liked had, but changing myself to fit in? Nope, no dice. That way sadness seemed to lie.

Shows how insidious some of the gender role stuff is.

It does seem to be getting better with Sweden and much more conciousness over gender roles. Although I still sadly get the odd friend who gets upset at this time of year (Pride) because people are acting out of pre-defined roles and it doesn't represent *them* as LGBT-whatever so must be *wrong*....*sigh*

It's an odd logic, no-one like me, so I won't go. Err...ignoring the fact that Pride is always about being yourself or what you want to be, even just for a day - either come-as-you-are or an extravagant exaggeration of self. Both are welcome and both should be acceptable - yes the media always focusing on the drag queens and gimps is slightly annoying, but that's the media pushing their bias, not the fault of people wanting to dress that way or express themselves.

All Prides I've ever been to (and I've been to a lot, not just in the UK) there are loads of people who look just like the audience, and would never 'tell' for being gay. And there are people who want to celebrate, and get attention and express themselves, which is cool also. The way I feel, the more people who fuck with the 'norms' the better. Not just in extreme ways, also just by not trying to fit in.

After all isn't that what Pride is about? Being proud of who you are and the differences? It'd be fucking dull if everyone looked the same, although some have attempted this within beardom, hippies, punks, and clones.

Gender roles

Commented this on an friends blog here but thought it worth repeating, kind of a space I've been thinking around Pride (it was great, surprisingly, btw - if hella wet like today!)

I've just been reading the Pigtail Pals blog because an LJ friend mentioned buying some of their 'Redefine Girly' tshirts for a relative - very cool. Weirdly ;ooking forward to Brave now...me? An animated Pixar film? Actually sometimes that does happen...

Anyway this post about boys reminded me in a strange way of when I grew a beard then came out - a lot of my family & a few friends thought the beard was me trying to 'hide' who I was or 'butch up'. I frankly was surprised by this, because really it equates feminine/cleanshaven with gay - whereas I just liked and found beards attractive. That hadn't even crossed my mind...finding fellow people I liked had, but changing myself to fit in? Nope, no dice. That way sadness seemed to lie.

Shows how insidious some of the gender role stuff is.

It does seem to be getting better with Sweden and much more conciousness over gender roles. Although I still sadly get the odd friend who gets upset at this time of year (Pride) because people are acting out of pre-defined roles and it doesn't represent *them* as LGBT-whatever so must be *wrong*....*sigh*

It's an odd logic, no-one like me, so I won't go. Err...ignoring the fact that Pride is always about being yourself or what you want to be, even just for a day - either come-as-you-are or an extravagant exaggeration of self. Both are welcome and both should be acceptable - yes the media always focusing on the drag queens and gimps is slightly annoying, but that's the media pushing their bias, not the fault of people wanting to dress that way or express themselves.

All Prides I've ever been to (and I've been to a lot, not just in the UK) there are loads of people who look just like the audience, and would never 'tell' for being gay. And there are people who want to celebrate, and get attention and express themselves, which is cool also. The way I feel, the more people who fuck with the 'norms' the better. Not just in extreme ways, also just by not trying to fit in.

After all isn't that what Pride is about? Being proud of who you are and the differences? It'd be fucking dull if everyone looked the same, although some have attempted this within beardom, hippies, punks, and clones.