The recent fad of Pokemon Go has taken me way back to my childhood. More specifically, my days of Pokemon card collecting and playing Pokemon Indigo League on my Gameboy Advance Color. The thing that irritates me about Pokemon re-surfacing and spreading through the public eye is the stigma that hangs with girls of all ages joining in to play. My sister and I grew up exhausting VHS tapes of our favorite Pokemon episodes, especially the creation of Mewtwo; we had all of the names committed to memory and impressions of each Pokemon’s unique voice down pat. The problem was we never felt comfortable joining in the conversation. Other girls our age were playing with their Barbie’s and Polly-Pockets, which, don’t get me wrong is perfectly fine and we had plenty of them too, but it almost seemed required that girls play with dolls and boys get the action packed battles.
The reason I’m saying all of this is because recently I was playing Pokemon Go, after the fact of its initial release, and I was walking with a friend while I was playing the game. I was completely engulfed in the play, naming the Pokemon before their vague shadows were filled in and she kept giving me these strange looks, like I wasn’t supposed to know. I had to explain that this wasn’t my first rodeo in the Pokemon realm, it was something that few of my friends know about me, and that felt strange to me. Why do I feel like I need to hide my love for Pokemon and things along that same wavelength like comics and video games?
I know It’s less than typical for girls to sit around drinking wine and talking about the CP of their toughest Pokemon, but why? Why are we so concerned about boys and girls liking the same thing? As I’ve grown I have started to care less about what people think of my interests, but it is important for young girls and boys to understand that you can like whatever you want, if you want to play with Barbie’s and stuffed animals or Hot Wheels and LEGOS, or even a combination of them all, that’s your decision to make! In 2016, I shouldn’t be embarrassed to be playing Pokemon Go or any other game around people, I shouldn’t have to hide certain parts of myself and my knowledge of specific things.
I am happy with the childhood I had, playing with Bratz Dolls and plugging an imitation Atari joystick into my TV to play DigDug for hours on end both molded me into the person I have become; equally interested in Clothes as I am finding new extensions for my Sims 4. There is no reason for anyone to be ashamed of their interests, be fearless and show people that you are the most badass Pokemon Trainer or you have dressed your Barbie better than any factory ever could. Everyone should learn at a young age to be completely unapologetic about who they are and what they care about, It’s no one else’s business but your own.
