I Believe in Accepting My Gender

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I Believe in Accepting My Gender

I hated being a girl, everything about girls. The stupid dresses and bows, the color pink; I hated all of it. Growing up I was always such a tomboy. I would wear longer shorts, baggier t-shirts, and lower pony-tails. I dressed this way for almost half of my life. I was basically biased against my own gender. My mom was always very supportive of whatever I did, but she wanted me do ballet. That failed. It wasn’t competitive or rough enough for me. I have an older brother and a twin brother and they both had many friends, all of which were boys. They were all very athletic, and I was the baby sister who just followed by example. I looked up to my big brothers. We were all pretty athletic when we were young. My dad was the dad who would coach their kids in every activity. Playing in the boys’ leagues was nothing out of the ordinary for me. It seemed natural. I was used to hanging out with the boys on Friday nights. While all the girls would have their slumber parties, I would be at the park playing sports with all the boys.

Soon the sports at the park weren’t coed anymore. It was starting to get harder to hang out with the boys. I still wanted to play sports and take my talents to the next level. I always thought girls were weak and too girly for me to be around. Despite that, I gave in and joined an all girls’ soccer team. My mindset was that boys were better and that girls could never compete the way I wanted to. After I was recruited to a more competitive club team, I realized girls were just as athletic as boys.

As my perspective began to change, I allowed myself to act and look like a girl, still feeling like a part of the boys. I realized that being a girl meant something. I wanted to make a statement. On my girls’ club team, we were able to scrimmage a boys team every week. Every girl on my team wanted to win. Every girl was just as competitive as I was. A girl on my team, Tiffany Falk, would attack every ball and go into every tackle with strength and passion. I finally saw that this was the place I belonged. Playing the boys got us more excited and pumped up than any other game. I found where I should have been all along, and I realized that there were more girls who wanted to make the same statement as I did. Just because we wore shorter shorts, dresses, and cared about the way we looked, doesn’t make us any less competitive. I am a stronger person now that I realize I can accomplish my goals being who I am.

Being able to dress up, wear makeup, and still play the sport that I love, has changed me for the better. I had been hiding from a life that I didn’t think I could have.

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