I have hair cut to a shortish bob, still pretty girly.
I was at a weeklong summer camp, and for the first two days, I had worn T-shirts and leggings or shorts. On the third day, I came to camp in a T-shirt and a shin-length prairie-style skirt.
I sat down in the circle with the rest of the kids, (about 6-8) and the boy next to me, about 6 years old, leans over and whispered, “Dude, why are you wearing a dress?” I was young, and thourougly confused by the comment, so I decided to correct him. “It’s a skirt, not a dress.” He stared at me like I was an alien. “Well, why are you wearing a skirt?” I shrugged, “Because I want to. So there.” He continued to stare. I began to feel uncomfortable. I fidgeted.
Then, it dawned on me. my eyes widened. I tapped his back, my anger quickly dissolving into shock. “By the way,” I said cautiously, “I’m a girl.”
“Oh shit.” (Keep in mind, this is a 6-year old) “Oh man. Wait till Jeremy hears about this! He’ll flip!”
I glared. I was only about 8 at the time, and I didn’t really understand that people stereotype people by their hair and their clothes, I just liked short hair and long skirts and leggings with T-shirts, so that’s what I wore. What I did realize was that this kid (younger than me) thought it was funny that he mistook me for a boy. For the rest of the camp, I glared at him, and stared at him, searching for some sign of remorse or apology. None came. When we sewed clothes, almost all of the kids gave their girl dolls dresses and their boy dolls pants. I seed bot, so my doll could switch off.
Now I’m older, and when i think back to this, I don’t feel angry, I feel sad. Sad that someone so young could be so unthinking and cruel. Sad that that little boy had no one in his life to teach him that people come in all shapes and sizes and clothes and hairstyles, no one to tell him that it didn’t matter if i was a boy and I was wearing a dress. Sad to think “What if It had been a boy he said that to?”
But mostly, i’m sad that this is the generation of kids we are raising. (This is coming from a kid)
