thanks anita, i agree that our society has slightly ‘brainwashed’ different genders to behave a certain way. the stereotype is that men are more likely to be interested in cars and tools while women into fashion and shopping. but i am neither, i like tools and cars, but i’m not really mechanical-minded nor do i care much about fashion or shopping unless it is for food. I am currently reading The Full Spectrum on LGBT and questioning of sexual identity by David Levithan and Billy Merrell which talks about the stories of teens trying to figure out their sexual orientation and coming to terms with it. Two stories stick out personally and they are “It’s Not Confidential, I’ve got Potential” by Eugenides Fico and “Trans-adventures of a F2M” by Alexzander Colin Rasmussen. In the first story, the narrator says that she dresses like a male at times because she hates societal conventions of females. She says that she rarely dresses feminine and during the rare times she does, she is just embracing who she is as a person regardless of gender. Here is a quote that she says that describes me at times “There’s a small dilemma every time I’m in a situation that doesn’t feel safe. My feminine training kicks in, cataloging exits and escape routes. But my masculine enforcement tries to compensate for my lack of confidence by putting more bravado than I can hope to defend.” I remember when I was younger, I enjoyed wearing skirts and running out in nature, but because of societal ideals i tend to have changed. i still like nature, but i wear shorts instead. As she got older, the narrator of the first story says “The problem is that people are too intent to categorize me as a person who enjoys shopping, makeup and boys, simply because I look a certain way.” The second story talks about a narrator who underwent a sex-change from female to male. before she did that she faced a lot of trauma in her life. her father was never really there and her mother abused drugs and she was emotionally neglected. she also saw her father in the rare times he was there beat her mother. i think this was the beginning of the notion, she would be safer as a guy. she and her sister were sent into their grandmother’s care. she heard her sister fight with her grandmother a lot and her grandmother would press on her to be the sensible and perfect one. when she lost her sister, the narrator of the second story was devastated. she didn’t like anything about herself or her life around her grandmother b/c she was expected to be perfect in health and in academics. when she brought home a paper with an A, her grandmother would say “Why not an A+?” all this made her self-esteem feel quite low. i think she also didn’t want to be female after what happened to her sister as well, so she went to the hospital to change herself to ALex instead. now he (changed) is happier and realizes that when people tell him that there is something he can’t do, he’ll be even more perseverant to do it.