I think one reason we have idyllic, nostalgic memories of #childhood (specifically pre-puberty) is that gender roles hit us in the face at some point after that.

Both boys and girls can (if all goes well) be seen as fun, innocent, nonsexual, cool little creatures. Then when they start to look, sound or act more like sexually mature people...

Boys: Aw, what a cool kid --> Fucking asshole, potential aggressor

Girls: Aw, what a cool kid --> Piece of meat, potential sexual target

This relatively sudden shift in public response pushes people toward particular behavior patterns and reduces options. It limits freedom to be things other than what the world insists you are or a reaction to that. We (I mean USAians, I guess) don't get to exist in a world without those pressures and influences on our thinking and behavior.

Both men and women participate in the sudden flip; it's not just men treating women like sexual objects, and it's not just women treating men like abusers/attackers waiting to happen. It's not the same, and it's not equal, but patriarchy fucks everyone up in some way, and almost everyone also participates in the upfuckening.

I've spent the past 25-odd years thinking about this from the standpoint of a sexual aggression/abuse researcher, and I always come back to "culture" as a massive influence. #Culture is a lot of things, varying over time/geography/groups, tangled into a gordian knot. Untying that has always seemed daunting, to say the least.

And that was when the dominant institutions in the US and other countries were dedicated to reducing the harmful effects of hegemonic gender role norms. Now... fuck. Some days it seems pretty damn hopeless.

I have to believe it's not hopeless, though, or there's no point even trying.

#TootIntoTheVoid #TootMeansFart #GenderRoles #GenderEssentialism #fascism