The Way of LIfe

“Do NOT play with that!” a key phrase every kid hears from their parents growing up. Weather boy or girl there is always social expectations on how we should act, who we should be friends with, and what we should play with. Young girls are expected to play with baby dolls and my little pony figures and young boys are told to play with action figures like Spiderman and Batman.  Growing up as one of the few boys in my family I was always surrounded by my cousins, who were girls. We were raised to always be active and be outside. I believe this was to keep us close and not get mixed up with playing with toys that “were not” acceptable by society. Growing up people picked on my cousin for being too manly because they were girls that love to be outside and playing sports or hiking. As for me, I like most people got picked on because I was small. I got called things like “weak, sissy, baby, chicken, etc.” and in today’s society kids expect to get picked on and that is not okay. Bullying in this day in age is something that everyone is embracing, adapting to and that is far from okay. As a nation, created on the idea of freedom how can we stand by and let children be oppressed and bullied by other kids and even adults. As a kids there no worse feeling then that of not being accepted. As a society we have just conformed to these ideals. Men, women, and children cannot express themselves in today’s world because how we have structured our believes on masculinity and feminism.