This is most likely something many average "normal" people don't even notice, let alone be bothered by it. But me, as a transperson (and most likely anyone crossing gender norms), am very frustrated and confused by this.
Our society has an almost compulsive need to assign EVERYTHING to a set gender, even if the object in question has nothing to do with sex or gender. Yes, sure, tampons are most likely only going to be bought by women (or men who buy it for their girlfriend/sister/mother?), and it makes no sense to market condoms towards women. But why do we need to assign a gender to children's toys? Or clothes? Or even worse: SOCKS.
I mean, what the heck? Socks? Seriously? Whenever I shop for socks I see packages "women's socks" and "men's socks", and no matter how close I look, I simply cannot find a difference or a reason why they are split into "men's" and "women's".
Also clothes... yes, I know "women's" clothes look different than "men's", but what does it matter? Why don't throw it onto one big pile 'o "clothes" and let people search through it what they like most.
Cars, games, furniture, and movies don't have a "gender" set on them either. Yeah, sure, some movies are more popular among women and some more popular among men, but when you walk into a cinema or DVD store you won't see "Men's movies" "Women's movies".
Why am I even so upset about this? You might wonder. Well, I am because these gender labels seem to imply we have no choice, like women HAVE to buy "women's" stuff and men HAVE to buy "men's stuff". Right now I just buy, use and wear whatever the crap I like, but when I was still a little kid I actually felt like I wasn't ALLOWED to wear "boys" clothes, even though they looked much better and I preferred them. As far as I remember, all my boy's clothes were hand-me-downs from friends and family, because for some reason buying new things from the boy's department is not ok, while getting them secondhand is. Weird world...
Gladly I still had plenty of other opportunities to express myself, and my parents never held me back to do stuff I liked. (if it wasn't dangerous, unhealthy or expensive, that is)
Right now, things like clothing are less of an issue. As no one can forbid me to wear men's clothes regardless of my sex. However a problem regarding public toilets, for example, remains. I tell you, they are an utter NIGHTMARE. As right now... I fit in both and I fit in neither (I must be a subatomic particle...), and I simply don't see why we can't have all unisex toilets, or at least ONE unisex toilet next to the men's and women's. To "normal" average people that might seem like an overkill, but it would GREATLY help me, other transpeople, genderqueer people, agender people, and basically all other people with a gender identity different than male or female or one misaligned with their bodies.
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