Girly Stuff
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Out with two young children last night, a boy and a girl. The boy says that he wants to switch coloring sheets at the restaurant because his is "girly." We all know that girls can like boyish things but not vice versa. But still I'm compelled to say, "That's a good thing. Girly things are great." Later we start telling stories in a round-robin. I start off: Once there was a dragon named Olivia. The girl continues Olivia's story, but when we get to the boy, he abandons it and begins telling a story about a dragon who lives on the OTHER side of the mountain and who is a boy.
None of this is the boy's fault. It's a message that's all around us. And the girl knows it; you can see her awareness when her brother makes a comment like this. And I think, There is no way that this doesn't affect the kind of art that we value as adults. These boys and girls grow up, and these attitudes are still in there somewhere, sometimes buried deeply and sometimes not.
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Out with two young children last night, a boy and a girl. The boy says that he wants to switch coloring sheets at the restaurant because his is "girly." We all know that girls can like boyish things but not vice versa. But still I'm compelled to say, "That's a good thing. Girly things are great." Later we start telling stories in a round-robin. I start off: Once there was a dragon named Olivia. The girl continues Olivia's story, but when we get to the boy, he abandons it and begins telling a story about a dragon who lives on the OTHER side of the mountain and who is a boy.
None of this is the boy's fault. It's a message that's all around us. And the girl knows it; you can see her awareness when her brother makes a comment like this. And I think, There is no way that this doesn't affect the kind of art that we value as adults. These boys and girls grow up, and these attitudes are still in there somewhere, sometimes buried deeply and sometimes not.
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posted by Anonymous at
1:17 PM
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