Manly or Girly?

         Earlier this week when we were talking about how we were raised and what life would be like if we were boys, it really made me think about the relationships in my family. I think the most interesting thing to look at is my sister and I. Now to get some background I am the second oldest of five and it goes boy, girl, girl, boy, boy. So in total three boys and two girls and a mom and dad.  Now when talking about my family, I think that I have a great relationship with my parents and all my siblings and I get along really well. Which is what makes it so interesting looking at my how my parents treat my sister and I. My sister and I, being raised in a house of mostly boys meant that we were tomboys. We played sports, fought, and in general got down n' dirty with the rest of them. However as I got older and took up theater rather then soccer, I found expressing myself through clothes was really interesting and so I opened up my wardrobe(which was probably a huge mistake with all the clothes I have now), However, this meant that my sister became the manlier one between the two of us. This was funny for two reasons because in my group of friends  they can in no way see me as the "girly" one and because I never stopped enjoying the things i used to do.

     The problem is I think that this type of thinking leads to problems in every girls self-esteem. I do not think there is any girl that wants to be told that she is manly to wear a dress or that another girl wants to be told that she is too girly to do anything difficult. I think that the issue is that society perpetuates this type of imagery that we are supposed to fit into these nice little boxes that society makes up for us and we don't! We are people that are just making a way for ourselves as best we know how.  So although my sister may play more sports and I may wear more dresses that does not mean we should be treated as people who only have one interest in life.