The Death of Femininity

Today, one of my friends posted this onto facebook:

"Meet the New Girl: Parenting a Gender-Neutral Generation"
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/13/living/parenting-meet-the-new-girl/index.html

If you're lazy like me and don't actually want to read the whole thing, I'll sum it up. Basically, femininity is dying, and that's apparently something to be applauded. The article is a lot less liberal than I made it seem, but the idea of the thing bothers me.

What's wrong with being a girl? What's wrong with playing with dolls and wanting to be a princess? (For the record, I still want to be a princess.) There is absolutely nothing wrong with crossing gender roles. I love me some football more than a lot of boys, and that's okay. I also love being a girl. That doesn't just mean that I love to play with dolls (I don't have the most developed attention span,) or like to dress up (High heels are a Satanic creation,) or like to put make-up on (I rub my eyes way too much - ain't nobody got time for that.) There's so much more to it than that, and I don't think that the general public understands that distinction.

The problem comes from the idea of gender-neutrality. Gender equality and neutrality are completely different things. Girls should be able to do the same things as boys, and boys should be able to do the same things as girls. I remember thinking to myself as a kid how odd it was that girls could, and were even encouraged, to act more like boys. Boys, on the other hand, could not do girl things without attaching themselves to a negative label. That's a problem. I'm a firm believer that people should do whatever floats their boat - no matter how utterly strange I might think it is.

Equality - yes. Neutrality? Not so much. What's the appeal of a neutral gender? There is so much beauty and excellence to be found in boys and girls, and girls don't understand that a lot of the time. Being a girl is so unique! Girls have so many qualities and gifts that most boys can only dream of. There are differences for a reason. Does that make one better than the other? Absolutely not. Does it mean that each has its own strengths and weaknesses? For sure. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, and that's what makes humanity so cool. Should we all try to be the same? Heavens, no. How boring would that be?

I simply propose that we stop calling for an abandon of femininity. Gender is part of identity. Identity defines who you are. Gender is not something to overcome - it's something to be embraced as you discover who you are and who you are meant to be. There's so much strength to be found when you accept and love all of who you are, and not just the parts that you like.

"Of all the creations of the Almighty, there is none more beautiful, none more inspiring than a lovely daughter of God who walks in virtue with an understanding of why she should do so, who honors her body as a thing sacred and divine, who cultivates her mind and constantly enlarges the horizons of her understanding, who nurtures her spirit with everlasting truth."
- President Gordon B. Hinckley