Growing up I was always told to "be lady-like", but what the hell does that even mean? Why are certain things lady-like? Why are guys told to "man up"? Who came up with this unrealistic notion that girls don't poop and guys don't cry? Why are we so bound by our genitalia that we have to morph our behavior around it? As someone who owns a vagina, why am I told not to go out late at night with random men, but a man is told his encounters with women are conquests? Why is it a woman is expected to cry but if a man cries he's weak? Why are men trained to act as if they have no emotions? Why is it I have to watch my father struggle in silence? Why is my mother's depression completely normalized as if she doesn't have a crippling mood disorder?
I have one thing to say about all this: eff all of it. It doesn't make sense. This crazy obsession society has with gender roles and norms is sickening. Girls poop, guys cry, some people don't wish to be identified as a gender. Get over it. Women are not objects to be had, men are not crazy sex machines with no emotions. Everything society has taught you about gender is wrong. Women can be abusive, men can be raped. Your genitals do not exempt you from various experiences in the world. Genitals do not define behavior. Trans* identities are completely valid.
Stop assuming that a woman is going to the bathroom to check her makeup, stop assuming a man is not being abused. Stop assuming someone's gender based on whether they have a vagina or a penis. Stop sexualizing breasts, they're meant for feeding babies and they are as sex-based as Adam's apple. Stop saying male victims of sexual crimes "enjoyed it", stop teaching women to "keep their legs closed". None of it makes sense.
It's 2016. Stop forcing people into your little boxes based on whether they have a penis or a vagina. And if either of those words makes you uncomfortable, go back to elementary school and grow up a little bit. This has been a public service announcement.
