I was the only girl on a baseball team when I was in third-fourth grade. Last week, I was playing kickball in one of my classes, and someone asked how I knew all the rules. I replied, "I played baseball for two years." Another kid yelled, "You mean softball." I snapped. I turned around and yelled, "No, it was a baseball team, and I was the only girl!" I'm sick of people thinking that just because I'm a girl, I played softball. Gender stereotypes are wrong. No matter what gender you are, you can enjoy the same thiings as other people. That's why feminisim is important. It isn't saying 'women are better than men' it's saying that both genders are equal.

GENDER STEREOTYPES ARE IDIOTIC AND DEMEANING!!! I mean, people don't have to be boys to like sports, and don't have to be girls to wear pink. I will wear a dress sometimes, but I also kick harder than most of the boys in my kung fu class. A friend of mine loves video games, but he also wears his hair in a braid.  Why do things have to be considered boyish, or girlish? Why can't it all be considered the same? ANYONE WHO THINKS A BOY WHO LIKES DOLLS IS A WIMP CAN GO AND JUMP IN A HOLE!

And one more thing:

GIRLS' POCKETS ARE A DISGRACE!!! YOU CAN'T FIT A THING IN THEM!!! Whereas you can fit your phone, a wallet, several large geese and the state of Alaska inside boys' pockets. I STAND FOR PANTS POCKET EQUALITY, PEOPLE!!!

For some reason, my earlier comment on this thread never posted. 

Oh well! Here goes again!

AAARGH I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH Y'ALL ABOUT THE "GIRLS" AND "BOYS" SECTIONS! Whenever I go to Goodwill or someplace thrifty like that, I usually go to the "Girls" section, but I always check the "Boys" section, because I always find amazing shirts there. My favorite shirt ever, which has Latin words which are too faded by now to understand, and a sword surrounded by vines on it, I found in the "Boy's section.

And don't even get me started on the pockets! Even most of the shorts/pants that I've found in the "Girl's" section at thrift stores (I usually only go for gray or black. Take that, "Feminine colors"!) DON'T HAVE POCKETS! It drives me nuts! And when they DO, they are so tiny it would be impossible to fit ANYTHING into them, let alone PRACTICAL things like pens and pencils! Or a key ring or something! 

(Also, if my speech about neurons and such was what caused the Admins to not post my first comment, then they're little cells inside the brain which help connect other cells together.)

And then there's the actual stereotyping. I have female friends who absolutely love gaming! I have a male friend who loves art and music and is good at both! I myself love to read and write, and I love to learn. The real issue here is that we have to show people that we are not these stereotypes! Most people I know don't conform to these stereotypes in any manner!

"Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a battle that you know nothing about,"--Unknown (to me. If anyone knows who that quote comes from, be sure to let me know.)

-Nianad  

I agree with y'all on your point about stereotyping girls to like more feminine things and boys to like traditionally more masculine things. Obviously anyone should be able to like whatever they want to, and I wish the world could understand that. 

But another point that I'd like to make that I feel is kind of unaddressed (I believe Bluebird mentioned a bit about this) is making girls who like more traditionally feminine things feel weak or, I don't really know how to put it, but a sense of "you're not tough like the rest of us" kind of thing. 

I've actually experienced a bunch of problems with this. I like wearing high heels and mascara, I like dresses and painting my nails, I like doing my hair and going shopping. But sometimes, I get the weird sense from other people that they look at me, and I feel like they think that I can't really be a feminist because I say I like wearing heels or going shopping, and I think what's starting to happen is that we're having a stereotype for feminist: the tough, anti-pink, anti-shopping, anti-heel wearing type of girl. 

I was talking to my friend about this recently, and she told me that she felt the same way, that sometimes she pretended not to like nail polish or shopping because of this conflicting sort of identity that society is starting to adopt: the "you like makeup/shopping/pink? Then you can't be a real feminist" sort of ideal. 

And this is something that is definitely beneath most people's radars, because to them, changing the original stereotype of the "girly girl" is equal to sort of villainizing it. Sure, society might be changing to be more tolerant of girls who like more masculine things, but they're starting to turn against traditionally feminine activities and such. 

So to all the girls out there being stereotyped for whatever ridiculous label society has come up with now, do whatever you want. Walk with a purpose, be it in four-inch stilletos or sneakers, and look societal norms right in the eye before you kick them right of the cliff. Who needs them anyways?