That girl thing

I've had a girl baby. We'll I've had one for over a year now. One of the more interesting (academically) concepts to arise from this is 'does gender exist separate from society?' Not sex, but gender. I hate pink. I also consider myself to have been raised by a gang of boys (and i mean gang in the old fashioned sense, so a tight knot group of friends that hangout a lot- not the modern word that adults bandy about now days when they are scared). Needless to say raising a girl is an issue for me, i think? I was really disappointed when i heard she was a girl, yes, i freely admit it, as i can freely admit that i am now more than 100% happy that she was a girl and not a boy. girl = mummy's friend, boy = future silverback. See, i have already done it! stereotyped gender!

Sometimes when Starbucks is good people will say, 'ah, it's because she's a girl'. I find it INCREDIBLY annoying. What so girls are good and boys are bad, my parenting has no influence??

Anyways, i have always tried to dress Starbucks in anything but pink, with the result being that most people think she is a boy. I thought it might be fun to include some pictures of her clothes here so you can decide for yourself if i am dressing her like a boy.

( These photos are all the same way around on my computer?) Boys or girls?

 Boys or girls? Dinosaur and combat colours?

 Black long sleeve?

 The most girly we go. It's got slight frills on the arms and its a cat

 Boys?

 My favourite band. Surely black is unisex?

Cookie!! but blue is a 'boys colour?

I'd be interested to know your thoughts, but when i go through this, i think most of these items are boys. Does that mean that Dinosaurs, 1980's clothing, stripes and combat are all only for boys. If so, what do girls like? shoes and cats? curious.

11/52 Happy? That i am a girl. I can grow humans!

Fond memories....

I remembered the other day a time at Christmas when Xss and Leo were playing. Leo called Xss 'girl pants!' when they were mock fighting ( think this version was Batman verses The Monster- Xss played the monster role with genuine feeling and integrity (dedicating it 'to monsters everywhere')). Xss, being the bigger man (or Monster), ignored this petulant comment and continued play hitting the child. However, five minutes later Leo had run away and hidden half behind the settee - and Xss in exasperation at the effort now required of him to get up off the floor and clamber over the settee to continue the fight, retorted to Batman's half visable form, 'girl pants'! Which to both of our utter bemusement, caused Leo's whole little face to drop, his broad smile disappear and he burst into spontaneous, heavy rainfall, tears. haha. Oh it was so funny. I did try and explain the 'don't dish up what you cant deal with' rule later to him, but to limited effect.



On a brighter note, i guess Xss and I now both now know what the ultimate insult to a four year old is. Why don't you try it on your own one?

P.S Since i have told this story to Junior he now calls me 'Girl pants' at work when he most wants to insult me! i dont cry (but inside i want to)