I was walking into work this morning when one of the charter school classes was out on the playground outside, and this one group of girls from the class started loudly commenting on the fact that I had a “girl’s backpack” with a ponytail draped over it and was wearing [the remains of…] nail polish.
Okay, so one of the girls from this class always told me something like “you’re a boy, you don’t need nail polish!” It’s kinda nothing new, but this conversation really pointed out to me just how absurd this all is.
My backpack is actually a galaxy print. I guess they think anything with pink to it is “girly”? Tell that to the distant light of the cosmos.
I have to wonder, who’s convincing these kids to cling so strongly to “traditionally” gendered norms? They’re like, seven years old, for crying out loud.
I’d like to think the community in this school is generally more on the progressive side, so I don’t think it’s really something the parents are pushing or anything.
I dunno. Maybe in this case it can be chalked up to “kids are rude demon spawn”.
I’ve wanted to explain to them that there are no hard rules to this, but that’s just beyond my pay grade. I’ve got four very high mileage remote control boats and a plastic orange tree to take care of, darn it!
… Yes. That’s why the nail polish doesn’t last. It just gets scraped right through in a day. 😛