There’s something that’s intrigued me on and off for a long time.
Often times you can tell whether something has been handwritten by a man or a woman, just from the shapes of the letters and the spacing between them. Or something like that. I’m not actually fully sure what or why or how. It’s not like boys and girls are explicitly taught to write differently. It just… yeah. One of those things.
@billgoats not quite handwriting, but very close - iris marion young's essay does a great job of explaining how women develop bodily movement styles through the cultures they're raised in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throwing_Like_a_Girl
(specifically about the problem of how people acquire body styles/comportments without being explicitly taught them)
@vga256 @billgoats My Dad believed the "throw like a girl" thing until he taught my brother and me the basics of baseball. I was 7 or 8 at the time, so still a "neutral" body. And I threw... just fine. Not, as Dad said, "knock-elbowed." No, he couldn't explain what that meant, but apparently I wasn't.
@vga256 @billgoats The follow up story is that a few years later I went with my brother and some friends to play baseball at a local park. But another group of guys was already there, so we decided to play against each other.
One of the guys on the other team told me I hit like a girl. I didn't respond. He got up in my face and said it again, "You hit like a girl."
I sensed my brother and another guy standing just behind my shoulders.
1/n
@vga256 @billgoats They were ready in case I tried to hit the guy.
Again, "You hit like a girl."
"I am a girl. And when you're older maybe you'll be glad there's a difference."
End of confrontation.
I got on base every at bat that game. Once hit by pitch (accidental) and walks. I was also the only lefthanded batter in the game and completely freaked out the opposing pitcher.
2/2
dan 💾
vga256
Karen E. Lund 💙💛