What Is It Like to Be a Girl?

Some boys might ask, “What is it like being a girl?”

My simple answer is “It is being myself.”

Some might think this is a ludicrous answer with no logic. But there is much logic involved. There is much bias in the world about what girls and boys should like. For example, girls have to like pink. But many girls like boyish stuff and many boys like girlish stuff. I have witnessed with my own eyes this girls = pink and boys = blue stuff. I have seen people treated unfairly because of his or her likes. No one, especially children, should be hurt because of what they like.

Back to my answer, “being myself” means liking some boyish and some girlish stuff. If I had to name some things that I like they would be dolls, photography, drawing, watching TV with my dad, Star Wars, and the color blue.

I do not think highly of the girls vs. boys idea. I feel that my own class at school struggles with this. Everything is a competition, nothing is okay until someone wins or loses, and it’s usually boys vs. girls on teams.

It makes me really sad to see all the effects of these issues rubbing off on people making them feel sad or insecure. I used to feel this way once, but now I know this is just an old wives' tale. You believe it even though you know it can’t be true.

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Caroline Zarzecki, age 10