Tired of gender discimination.

[Missa]

There's been something eating at my mind for awhile, and I thought here would be a good place to talk about it.

A few months ago, I went to TJ Maxx ( If you don't know what that is, here is link. http://www.tjmaxx.com/) and my boyfriend had decided to go with me for the heck of it. There's a men's section there and we saw a shirt that was pretty sweet looking, so he tried it on and bought it.

The next day, we went out to eat with a few friends, and he was wearing his new shirt. One of our friends (who is a guy, and straight) said he thought it was cool and asked where he got it. After my boyfriend told him, he laughed and replied "TJ Maxx?! That's a woman's store."

That's where I got really annoyed. Even though TJ Maxx is obviously marketed toward women, (Their current slogan, as you can see on the site, says "Where fashionistas become maxxinistas"), it shouldn't have to be labeled as a "woman's" store. It's a designer discount store. And fashion doesn't exist solely for females.

But here's the main thing that ticked me off: He would never make a point to laugh at how I shop at Gamestop. And some people might call Gamestop a "man's" store. From what I have seen in advertising and character design, a good majority of video games are marketed toward (straight, in particular) men. Other than games like Hannah Montana ones or something along the lines of Pretty Sparkle Ponies, the video gaming thing is typically seen as more masculine than it is feminine.

It seems like in America, it's acceptable for females to be tomboyish and do/like masculine things, but it's not as acceptable for males to associate themselves with something feminine. Why is that? Is masculinity more desired, or something? Is femininity something shameful and that should be avoided at all costs? I don't get it. You see girls playing sports and tossing around footballs but you don't see guys taking ballet...and if they did, they would totally get made fun of...how is that right? I wish in this day and age, it didn't matter. Sadly, everything is plastered with gender boundaries...

Does this bother anyone else? And if you live somewhere else in the world and/or belong to a different cultural background, is it different?

I also strongly encourage viewpoints from a gay/lesbian/bi or trans-gender perspective. I apologize if my post seemed sexist itself because it's from a straight point of view.

[Lux-Vertas]

It only bothers me for picking up my siblings, If I'm not their father I'm instantly a Pedophile!

Jesus... I'm glad they no longer need picking up from school!

[Chu]

Today I had my boyfriend's biology notebook to copy since I'd been absent for the past three days, and everyone at my table was freaking out because it was pink. When they asked why it was pink, I told them that he liked purple and it was the closest the store had, and they all just turned their noses up at it. I even get jokes that he's really gay even though we've been dating for a year and three months. :/

Gender biases don't bother me anymore because to me, both sexes have their flaws. As far as masculine/feminine things, I don't really care about that either. I'm a pretty odd female by normal standards. Burping, farting, and nudity don't bother me, but I'm prissy with behavior, eating something off of the ground/after someone, or having anything on my hands. I guess because I'm such a mixture no one really thinks anything special of my masculinity or femininity, so it's probably a good thing.

[Missa]

Lux-Vertas -- people seriously thought you were a pedo? Wow. You know, that's another thing too...we've got this society that is so paranoid about everything.


And Chu -- I'm sort of like you, that way. A mixture. I think it's good that it doesn't bother you. As for myself, well...I'm a very insecure person, to a fault...and it gets in the way sometimes. I just wish people would stop criticizing others because they expect them to be a certain way based on their gender. Though I suppose when it all comes down to it, it shouldn't matter what those people think :/

[Lux-Vertas]

I KNOW! It's just crap! Luckily it wasn;t taken any further!

[Chu]

I understand that. I know though that if people stopped judging others based on sex, there would still be racism and the like. Sadly we live in a highly judgemental society - it's somewhat expected that people are going to judge others. And who knows, maybe some of them judge others based on their own insecurities. Whatever the case, it is pretty sad.

Yet despite all that high talk, I've grown up somewhat biased against men. ^^; I've gotten better over the years but I've had bad experiences in the past, and my family is pretty much feminist so those bad feelings were engraved in me from the start. Luckily I don't treat guys like crap like some women I know. It would've really ruined some nice friendships.


@Lux: Of course. :/ Because it's completely taboo for guys to show any type of compassion - even toward their siblings. People are stupid; I would've found it heartwarming since it's such a rare scene.


Oh... That reminds me of something. :/ I was riding the bus home after school, and I saw a dad in a business suit with his son's backpack on (it was Spiderman - so adorable) and holding the kid's hand as they were about to cross the street. I thought it was sweet but some jerk on my bus (he's always starting something) started talking like the guy was a pedophile. That really did piss me off because it was a FATHER WALKING his son home. How often do you see that?

[Lux-Vertas]

Yeah I hate that s##t, and its always the Douches that say "Guys should have affairs and not cair about their bitches!"

They need to be forced into sex with a 500 pound gorrilla!

[Chu]

XDD I was reading it seriously until the last sentence.

You're right though; it's ridiculous to think that way. And then those types of people wonder why others get mad at them for it.

[Freshie]

I bought my boyfriend an awesome GUY shirt at TJMaxx last month. It has kanji and a tiger on the back. He wears it all the time. ^^;;
It was on sale, $3..from $54 or so. Yes. I'm an awesome shopper. :D

Like maybe others, he hasn't been in TJMaxx much, becuase when you walk in, the major part you're seeing is womans clothes and asserioes. It can drive non-woman out. But they have our basic department store items. They're just all around the edges of the store, while the woman stuffs in the middle.

I think thats all I could add right now.

And also its not necessary gender related..but "clique" related.
Some times I'm afraid if I go into our local Hot Topic, they'll all look at me like I'm lost or something. I feel I'm not dressed the right way to walk in there. :/ I love punk and a few things they have there and in other shops, its just I'm usually in jeans and a t-shirt, being all normal looking. xD

[Missa]

Freshie- Awesome! You're a Super-Shopper! Or maybe you're a Maxxinista? XD Haha. Kanji w/ tiger....sounds like an Ed Hardy shirt <3 And wow, that was a really good deal.

But, yeah. It's true what you say about the way the store is set up. But with the situation with my friend and boyfriend...it was definitely more about gender than the clique type of the store. Though sometimes it does suck going into TJMaxx because some people there, whether its customers or employees...can be rather snobby. So I feel kind of awkward at times :/

And same goes for me, with Hot Topic. I love what's there. I'm into that stuff but I don't really LOOK like I do, so it makes me feel alienated. I got annoyed at an employee once because she actually mocked me for saying something that sounded too "preppy" apparently. Sigh. All I said was "Ohmygawd that's cute." It was Hello Kitty! C'mon. -_-

Chu- I've been a bit biased of men in the past, too. It's like what Lux described...the stereotypical macho dooshbag guy who cheats on his gf with all these girls and thinks he's superior to all of them...those types really give guys a bad name. But there's female counterparts to those kind of men. It goes both ways, yeah? I can be a bit feminist, but not to the extreme. I don't hate all men. There's good men, bad men, and good women, bad women...

And there was a guy my age once, who was at the park, holding the hand of what I assumed was his little sister, and it was so sweet. He walked around with her, wherever she wanted to go. It was cute and like you said, rare.

Lux- 500 pound gorilla? XD XD That made my day, pretty much.

[Chu]

Oh, the friends that I've made and women that I've met have totally changed things for me. ._. I actually respect my male friends more than my female friends as a result now.

But maybe that's just because I make friends with overly emotional irrational females and awesome males. ^^; I'm not sure.


I just remembered what Lux's comment reminded me of. XD I can't remember which, but there was a video on Youtube where some guys were playing Left 4 Dead, and one was joking about how his friend got killed by this. Jokes ensued about him having sex with a female tank. So maybe instead of a gorilla, those types of men should have sex with THAT. It would definitely be much worse.

[Lux-Vertas]

Why not make the Gorilla a zombie and underage and we can get all the taboos!


But girls can be ust as bad, The amount of time me and my dad have told my mum that we are not mind readers... you can cronicle them on a time line!

And also how many peole hav heard the words "The female species"?

[Thoth Star]

I AGREE! Sexism is a big deal... I hate when men say "Women are just inferior!" I stand up for the Ladies! I'll be like "SHUT YOUR MOUTHHOLE!" It pisses me off when people discriminate, cuz I've been discriminated against wayy too much about my sexual orientation and blond-ness (get called "dumb blond way too often!)... Its annoying. People should understand appearance has NOTHING to do with the person's personality & soul...

[Iregyura]

Sigh...I've seen TONS of these, but can't get one off the top of my head...But there's nothing wrong doing stuff that's weird. I also don't like it how everybody is like "Oh no, you can't do this because you're a girl." Or "You can't cry because you're a guy." That really ticks me off. Who cares?! Guys can cry and girls can play football with other guys. There's nothing wrong to that, won't they understand. Ugh. I strongly dislike people who discriminate I hope it's the same with you!

[Paris]

Men who refer to stores or any other object as "girl's stuff" are usually extremely insecure about themselves. I shop for clothes at Walmart, have gone inside Victoria Secret to buy stuff for people and I'll shop anywhere as long as I can see men clothes inside, not sure why female clothes mix with men clothes make it one gender over the other, it's all the same thing.