Girls

[littera_abactor]

The recent spate of genderfuck stories triggered something of an epiphany for me.

I'm no good at being a girl.

I'm happy to be female, yes, and I can't even imagine wanting to be male, but the distance between "female" and "girl" is huge.

Actually, the difference between "female" and "girl" is me.

I can't dress myself. I finally learned what a

Comments

[nike_victory]

Here from metaquotesI feel for you. I'm so not a girly girl. However, I've met lots of girly girls over the past 7 years who all seem to want to "help" me become a girly girl and do my make-up and my hair, so I do know how to apply make-up, different ways to do my hair, what a slip is, etc., but I don't bother because it's such a waste of time. I'd rather sleep in

[lastscorpion]

LOL! That's a wonderful essay! You are so totally not alone. (Some of us are old enough that it no longer matters. I certainly never got the hang of "girl," but I can do "crone" standing on my head.)

Do people never read Erma Bombeck or Peg Bracken anymore? There used to be almost a genre of humorous female writers, who would talk about how they never quite got the hang of femininity or adulthood, and it always made me feel less abnormal to read them (plus they were really funny.)

Thanks for writing this and putting it up!

[the_s_guy]

To all the women out there who never learned to be simpering incoherent indecisive girly-girls,

From every helpdesk, phone centre, assistant anything, service provider, mechanic, plumber, electrician and person behind a counter who's not being paid commission,

WE LOVE YOU, DON'T EVER CHANGE.

Also, PSA for anyone who didn't already know - the kind of guys (mainly) who will be interested in you can often get turned off (or just slightly freaked out) if you go suddenly frilly-pretty-coiffered girly-girl at them. Yes, I *know* this is against every Hollywood stereotype. But think about it - wethey're attracted because you wear jeans and tees and collect power tools and can troubleshoot a wireless network and read widely and have hobbies and can argue about anything and can't think of a logical reason for lipstick to exist.

Being able to color-match your socks and curtains is not the turn-on the media makes it out to be. Trust me on this one, mmmkay?

[brown_betty]

I'm reminded of a fic I wrote where I realized two months later that I had confused mascara with eye-liner. Because do I look like the sort of person who puts SHARP STICKS in her EYE? Do I look stupid?

Except, you managed to make it funny and endearing, whereas mostly I just think, I suck at being a girl. I'm pretty sure if you gave your shopping list a title it would be nose-coke funny.

[red_eft]

...you know, I think I didn't know there was a difference between them. I'm still not sure I could identify either. It's all sort of "keep it away kthnx" to me.

[somthin_wicked]

Another passerby from metaquotes

It should also me noted that occasional impulses to impersonate a girly girl can be be potentially fatal and will almost certainly lead to injuries.
Last time I wore high heel (actually, they weren't even heels, they were just shoes that weren't sneakers) I tripped and fell down an enormaous flight of stairs. The bruises still haven't faded.