[SIZE="2"]“Little girls often want to do gymnastics, dance, or even soccer. But what if a little princess wants to play hockey? Since Detroit is coined Hockeytown, it should not be surprising that little girls would want a part in the action too. So why shouldn’t they learn about hat tricks rather than pirouettes?” (from a Detroit-area online article about gender stereotypes)
I suppose. I know that girls/women/ladies (using the term loosely) play hockey, but it baffles me why females would wish to engage in such a pointlessly violent and masculine activity. I mean, I’m a hockey fan from WAY back, a guilty pleasure I can barely explain under the circumstances of my MtF crossdressing, but I just can’t “square” the idea of girls using aggression to get a point across, or push a rubber biscuit over the goal line. I guess there’s no body-checking in these female games, but what about a reality check? It’s a sign of the times, whereby females are now expected to be as aggressive, dynamic, and overbearing as their male counterparts. I submit that girls are now playing like boys, or, more accurately, engaging in the evolutionary thrust of human endeavor, previously a male-only club. I have a question – what happened to the GIRLS?
I recently got a “preview” sales folder from the U.S. Chess Federation (how did they find me?), and I came across a new chess book titled “Play like a GIRL!” This got me thinking – how does one play chess LIKE a girl? If you play over a chess game from a book or a magazine without knowing the gender of the players, you would never guess that one (or both) is a female, i.e. girl. Intrigued about the title, I looked up the aforementioned book online – it is a collection of tactical positions from the world’s best women players, and it is described thusly: “Chess players of all levels can enjoy the puzzles, as the difficulty goes all the way from one-move killer blows to deep, complex combinations. The crushing tactics in this book show that “playing like a girl” is something to aspire to!” The key words here are “killer” and “crushing,” and they tell me that the so-called girls are playing like boys, on the level playing field called war (I mean chess)...
Chess success is all about “sharpness,” a male concept, or male conceit, if you will. I play chess, in fact I’ve played in tournaments, but I’ve always been more interested in the artistic side of the game. My female friend and patron back in Massachusetts had a daughter who played chess very well, in fact she was taught the game by her late father. When they found out I played chess, they asked me why I didn’t do more with it. “I don’t have a killer instinct,” I replied, and I meant it – I really didn’t enjoy beating anyone. The woman turned to her daughter and asked, “Do you have a killer instinct?” The girl nodded enthusiastically, and then looked at me with an expression of disdain – I enjoy these little self-emasculating moments, especially in the presence of FEMALE masculinity. Why on Earth do you wish to be like a male, darling? The disdain is mutual, but I must be this way, just like you must affect aggression and play it out in some altruistic manner...
I won’t even go into what sharpness, crushing, and killing represent, or why one would engage in such masculine activities in the first place, since I know that the genders are not as far apart as some insist they are, or must be, for the good of society. Also, we are living in a time when male attributes or virtues are largely unquestioned, for the purported good of said society, and we are all expected and encouraged to be equally non-compassionate. In short, it would be nice if girls could be like boys, whatever that entails, and under no circumstances are boys allowed to be like girls. Perhaps you can see where I’m going with this unsolicited diatribe, but bear with me. Here I am, playing like a girl in a somewhat anachronistic manner, but I’m not supposed to be doing it, or any other “weak” activity, since it somehow violates my gender. Meanwhile, girls can step out of their prescribed roles, and back again, with nary a protest forthcoming...
In the local paper this week I saw a couple of photos that further illustrate the point I’m trying to make, namely that the idea of “girl,” hitherto an idea to worship, has become an endangered species. Apparently a man in Hutchinson, Kansas was so proud of his two daughters’ recent accomplishments that he let his fatherly pride out for all to see. What did his daughters do? Why they each bagged a “trophy” buck, of course, and we were all treated to images of the beaming father, the camouflaged (smiling) girl, and the dead deer – not once but TWICE (one for each girl)! I can barely look at such images, but that’s beside the point. I’m not here to judge, but I’m just wondering, in the context of this idea of “playing like a girl,” what kind of perversion is taking place. Under what circumstances would a girl wish to experience a “right of passage” that many boys are expected to aspire to, and why? Perhaps the proud father has no male progeny, so the girls must fill the gap and be boys for HIM – obviously, if the father likes to hunt, the girls are out there with him, projecting a masculinity that is at odds with their inherent girlhood. I really don’t understand how female compassion gets “tucked” away, but I guess it happens...
I can’t help but think about this scenario – what if there was a photo in the newspaper of a proud parent, posing with his/her son who just made his own dress, or some other accomplishment that would be seen as “girly,” un-masculine, or downright effeminate? It would NEVER happen, would it? And yet, girls can do “boy” things and be patted on the back for it – after all, they have risen out of their “unfortunate” femininity and achieved a masculine merit badge, if there is such a thing. There seems to be a background of discontent with all things feminine, perhaps borne on the wings of centuries of inequality, and we effeminate individuals are very much not worth knowing, if I’m reading the overtly masculine graffiti on the walls. I recently wrote a thread OP about “petticoat punishment,” in which a female declared that femininity is demeaning. Encasing a boy in the “trappings” of a girl is ultimately humiliating, or is meant to be, while a girl acting like (or dressing like) a boy is OK. Honestly, what is a girly-boy to do?
There have been a couple of well-reported instances these past few months of spouses, SO’s, or girlfriends coming to this site, specifically the MtF section, and being appalled by what they see and read. Of course – what could be more terrible, more ugly, and more unthinkable than the idea of boys dressing like girls, acting like girls, or...gasp...turning away from being boys? I can think of MANY things more horrible than these innocent and innocuous undertakings we boys need to do, but it’s no good trying to explain it to someone on the “other” side. Look at it this way – we wish to play like girls in a TRUE sense, which is another way of saying we wish to step away from being boys now and then and affect an image (or a feeling) of femininity that has touched us along the way. It begins slowly, but the need is there, just like a girl may feel the need to compete like a boy, wear the same type of clothes, and “crush” the opponent in some mock-masculine way. That’s certainly OK, if it makes you happy, but how about letting us boys play like girls so that we can be happy? Wouldn’t acceptance of this idea indicate compassion? It’s not too late, girls...
Getting back to the two deer-hunting girls, I’m wondering if they’re going to go to the senior prom in a few years and begrudgingly wear a dress. GASP! I’m sure they won’t even be aware of, much less dwell upon, the dichotomy their boy/girl lives represent, but this is the 21st century, and all aspects of femininity are subjugated, regardless of one’s birth gender. Oh well, pass the toothpicks, darling – we’re heading back to the woods to dominate nature, including our own...
What does the phrase “playing like a GIRL” mean to you?
Whatever happened to “The meek shall inherit the Earth?”
Merry Christmas to you all...[/SIZE]
