I was at a family event one day, and we had just begun eating. My cousins were sitting at the table with me, discussing their favorite football teams. One of my older cousins asked the younger kids, “So what’s you guys’ favorite football team?”
The younger girl’s response was, “I like the Cowboys.”
“You mean the ‘Cowgirls’?”, my older cousin said, “They don’t play like boys, they play like girls.”
She has a lot of influence on all of the younger kids. It was an insult, which I could see easily enough without even knowing anything about the Cowboys or football in general.
I was pretty annoyed with that, especially since the kids are so young. They shouldn’t grow up hearing people talk about women and girls in that fashion at such an early age where it has a better chance of sticking. My older cousin could have — should have set a better example. It’s especially disappointing to witness this when most of my family claims to be feminist, but things like this continue to happen. They still treat the boys and girls differently. They still make little comments like the one previously mentioned.