bound to the gender binary (editorial)

I feel like I don’t really explain anything very well in this essay, so please let me know anywhere I can clarify or elaborate.

This was inspired by a quote I heard recently --

“The world I’m fighting for is a world where we allow people to self-narrate their bodies.”

There’s no reason to put people into boxes. Genders are not defined by whether or not you wear glitter and play with barbies or wear cargo shorts and play with action figures. Feminine/masculine looks, affinities, and materialistic items are norms that vary by culture. Gender is much more complex and harder to define than just two words, but as we grow up we are groomed to fit more into our certain box. Having boy/girl sections in stores just further enforces these categories everyone is put into that are really just social constructs. Certainly male and female is a real thing, but masculinity and femininity are made up ideas that we are all confined to. A lot of people can fit in a box, but no one completely fits every criteria. It’s impossible since the definitions of what is masculine and what is feminine vary depending on when, where, and who you are.

By creating rules that genders have to follow, we are destroying originality. Some people say that there isn’t originality left in this world, but that’s because we oppress the originality to society deems unacceptable. Whether you like it or not, clothing is an outward display of yourself to those who see you, and therefore a form of self expression. It’s harder to find yourself when you’re dressed like everyone else, or play with the same toys as everyone else because you are told to. Clothing always has the opportunity to act as individualism on display, and by saying that only some clothing is appropriate for people to wear, we are restricting this beauty vehemently.

You don’t really know who you are yet as a child, but you are already placed into a box.  Why should you have to wear “girl clothes” or “boy clothes” if you don’t feel like a girl or a boy? Individuals are not meant to be put in boxes. You feel better in so many ways when you are more yourself. People feel empowered when they are allowed to be what they want to be, and they should be allowed to be so. When people are happy they make other people happy. When you’re allowed to be yourself and when people acknowledge that you are yourself it validates you. You are your strengths and your weaknesses and you need both.

Even the artificial blue and pink backgrounds behind the displays of toy and clothing are problematic. This is extremely evident of how deeply rooted and defined these categories are. Colors do not have gender. Colors are reflection of light and don’t fundamentally have anything to do with gender, but our culture has taught us that half of the population shouldn’t wear pink.

Sweden recently got rid of boy/girl divisions in many stores, and even came out with ads of kids playing with toys that don’t fit their gender norms. They also now have a gender neutral pronoun. I’ve never been to Sweden, but I think we could take some lessons in America. We need to back down a little with the labels. We are raised in a world where different is wrong. And although we are just fighting for what we think is right, we are oppressing so many people. If as a society we adopt a more open view of the world we live in, everyone can be nicer to everyone.

breathing underwater

This is just really really bad. It needs help. It's also too long, and it ends weird. And this blog messes up the formatting. There used to be paragraphs, I swear. I just can't figure out how to get them back.

I started swim team when I was seven years old. After a summer of going to the pool and hearing family friends brag about swim lessons I wanted to join them. It was difficult to get into when I first signed up. Difficult is an understatement- I hated it. I was a toothpick-thin little girl in “heated” pool water early in the morning, and it was frigid. Bending my arms and legs in the ways they told us to make the strokes felt awkward and unnatural. And afterwards my limbs felt like wet noodles; they certainly weren’t stable enough to walk on. But somehow I loved it. I came back the next year and the year after that. I made friends on my swim team and I loved spending every morning of my summer with them. A couple years later when I started to complain of worrying myself awake every night, my mom signed me up for a winter club team so I could get some exercise. My summer team made me work, but never this hard. But somehow it was even more rewarding. Since the act of swimming is an individual sport, the water became a place for me to think and unwind. Even more than the pool, I love the ocean. I love the salt, and the life, and the vastness of the waves that stretch out over the horizon. Sometimes I wish I could stay underwater forever, but alas I have to breathe. It is for this reason that if I had a superpower it would be to breathe under water.

I’ve always told people my superpower is being able to guess what time things will happen, but I would prefer breathing underwater. One perk of being able to breathe underwater would be that you can’t get caught nearly as easy as you can flying over houses or traveling in time. Even Harry potter got caught in his invisibility cloak. Breathing underwater is more of a masked superpower. As long as you don’t stay under too long when people are watching then it’s foolproof.

As much as I like to hang out with people, I seriously need my alone time. It’s what revives me, and water is what rejuvenates me. Sometimes it feels impossible to get away from all the chaos, but it’s always tranquil underwater. Being able to breathe underwater is a very personal super power in that it may not be the most practical, and whenever I use it I would most likely be alone. However, the ability to stay underwater as long as I want is that it would become a form of avoidance for me. It could become a hiding place I go when I’m procrastinating working or evading people.

I would love to go exploring in the ocean if I could breathe underwater. Life underwater is different. The creatures underwater look completely distinct from the animals on land; like aliens from some other planet. If I could stay underwater as long as I wanted I could become so connected to the sea life. Proximity and being able to breathe the same water they do would bond us together. I would become best friends with all of the sea creatures. It would be like snorkeling except I could go as deep as wanted, and I wouldn’t have a bothersome snorkel tying me to the air above the surface.

Maybe I just want breathing underwater to be my superpower because I always used to loose underwater breath-holding contests to my friends as a kid even though I was supposed to win because I was a swimmer and a flute player. I just took a buzzfeed quiz on what superpower I should have and I got the ability to melt into a puddle, which fits how I act when I’m supposed to be a hero in stressful situations, but it also kind of fits the water theme. Puddles can hide underwater very easily. Breathing underwater may not be as superfluous as other superpowers, but it’s superpower that suits me. Other superpowers are fun to show off like super speed, or help people all the time like super strength. Breathing underwater is serene being alone, but also exciting getting to explore sea life. There is a certain energy below the surface of the water that I would love to be able to experience more.