Hapiehed here! A few weeks ago I noticed something; people are saying stuff in the Times about how it's hard to be a girl... but boys get no recognition!
Reporters are talking about how it's hard to be female in a society like ours, which demands perfection from them, and they seem to be saying that boys have it easy. When I read that, I just thought to myself, "Yeah, right! Us girls having it hard, boys able to cruise through life! What a joke!" Thinking that something needed to be done to correct these misunderstandings, I did some research and questioning of my own.
First of all I had to think of a few topics. Topic number one is "The early years: Girlie Boys". Topic number two is "The growing years: Athletics and Academics". Topic number three is "The teenage years: Tough and Rough".
The early years: Girlie Boys.
I thought this topic would be hardest to uncover, as you can't exactly interview small children, but I was wrong! Very luckily, on TV a couple nights after I set my mind to do this article, a show came on about boys playing with "girls' toys". Some specialists brought groups of small children into a room that on one side had "boy toys" and on the other had "girl toys." Predictibly, most boys played with trucks and swords, and most girls played with Barbies and clothes, but there were the few girls who wanted to have sword fights and boys who wanted to dress up Barbies.
How come when a girl plays with 'boy toys', she's called a "tom boy" and (it seems to me) is respected, but when a boy plays with 'girl toys', he is ridiculed? It is unfair!
The growing years: Athletics and Academics.
Many boys from ages 7-12 struggle through school while many girls get through without effort! And if you thought boys all loved basketball, soccer, baseball, and hockey, think again. Many are forced to fake a love of athletics in order to be safe from bullying, ridicule, and alienation. One 11 year old who chooses to remain nameless said, "Girls don't have it easy, but neither do guys. We have to pretend just as much or even more than girls just to avoid being beaten up!"
The teenage years: Tough and Rough.
Teenagers also have it hard. While girls are suffering with anorexia and bulemia, boys also are! They also think they need to be skinny! While girls can often cry and people will comfort them, the only time boys get to cry and be socially acceptable is when a loved one dies. Teenage girls, it seems to me, can do anything they want, be a tom boy or be a prissy girl; boys have to be rough or, you guessed it, they're alienated and ridiculed.
You may be asking, "Well, why does that matter so much?" If you think about it, it could make all the difference in the world! For just an example, smart boys (maybe seniors in high-school) could be almost a shoo-in into a University. But beating other guys up could lose them their honors, their recommendations from their principals, and could earn them demerits on their permanent record, keeping them from attending schools like Harvard.
Thank you for reading my article. I just wanted to get my point across.
Hapiehed, over and out!
