Boys play with boy things, girls play with girl things. That is an old, outdated line of thought that needs to squashed. We can all have fun in all things. When I was coming of age my friends and I were constantly bombarded with boundaries, especially on the things that brought us joy. Isn't that odd? Why would you try to co-op something specifically designed to create fun? Because that's how the generations before were also taught. Well... the times they are a changing.
Redditor u/schright_dwute wanted to start compiling a list of what adventures we ALL can partake in gender fluidly post-Covid by asking... Males of reddit, what is something you like that is generally considered feminine or "for girls"?During our adolescent years my friend Jackie would always want to play with my GI Joes; mainly because she thought soldiers were handsome and one day planned to marry one. As do we all. She would give me her barbies and then we would have a lovely tea. Consistently her parents would come across us and scold us for swapping and have us swap back. Our friends also thought it was odd during playtime.
This would make Jackie incensed. She wanted to play with the soldiers. (So did I but for different reasons) So when she wouldn't get her way, she would behead all of the dolls and toss their bodies out her third-story bedroom window. I myself was never a doll person either way. But I appreciated her drama. In this day and age, men have much calmer reactions to wanting to participate in things that are designated "feminine." And they are discovering a whole new world.
Bring it in bro
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Hugging your friends could be nice.
I feel this. I spent years being really insecure and would not initiate a hug, and when I did hug it would be really awkward. I'm over that now, but now we're in a pandemic so... sucks to be me?
Dance Away
Dancing ballet. I was a dancer for years, mostly hip hop and acrobatic before I tried ballet. Wish I would have gotten into it sooner. I didn't start until I was 23. Both yoga and ballet really help with body control. Which to me, means reducing the risk of injury from other physical activities. I did it for about 8 years. I noticed an improvement in my other forms of dance pretty quickly. I'll probably go back to dancing next year.
You Don't Bring Me Flowers...
I've never understood why the only pretty, feminine delicate things men were supposed to like were women. Makes no sense.
I'm not supposed to like flowers, but I'm supposed to like a woman that's pretty like a flower? What kind of sense does that make?
It is really silly when you think about it. The people who came up with that logic are the same people who think a little boy playing with a Barbie will make him gay. Surely the best way to instill straightness in little Johnny is to only let him play with muscular G.I. Joes and nearly naked pro-wrestling action figures. That will somehow teach him to like girls.
Good hygiene is an imperative aspect of life. Who doesn't like a luxurious shower and a clean body? And aren't we all attracted and drawn to people who smell good? For years society has complimented women on their fruity or fresh hair scent, or the soothing smell of a body oil or shower gel. And all the while men just had industrial soaps. Well look out world the boys have discovered the eucalyptus. And they are never going back.
No Shame
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Currently using my housemates "glitter unicorn" shower foam and I unashamedly love the way it makes me smell every day.
Scent of a...
I love lavender, vanilla, and baby powder scented things.
I accidentally bought a baby powder version of my normal deodorant and loved it. I can't seem to find it anywhere these days though.
It's funny to me how some scents are considered feminine.
"mandarin orange and mango"Â
I accidentally bought women's shower gel once and now use nothing else. It just smells so much better.
I also like that the name on the bottle usually implies what the scent is. The "mandarin orange and mango" scent actually smells like that, while I'm still unsure what XTREME WOLF RUSH smells like, unless it's the toilet at a furry con after a wave of e. Coli.
Coochie-Coo
I shave my face with this stuff called "Coochie Cream." It's a brand of shave butter that, according to my ex-girlfriend, is very popular amongst strippers. I have to shave every other day and I swear by the stuff.
I used that back when I was shaving my head, it works amazingly.
And sometimes it's the simple pleasures in life. Why is it not masculine to sit and enjoy a nice chamomile tea? Who decided what makes a man less a man by the way he derives rapture. Everyone needs a safe space and maybe when they're there they want to read a book or bedazzle a towel. Don't judge.
Everyone needs blankets...
Crocheting. It's very relaxing and you create useful things. But almost every pattern I find is some kind of female clothing or accessory. There are pet toys but those are the only exceptions.
Have you heard of The Crochet Dude?
Also afghans/blankets are a good way to go. They take quite a bit of time to make but are easy to make more masculine or unisex.
Also amigurumi is pretty cool. I suppose stuffed critters can be considered "girly," but there is such a wide variety that it would be worth checking out if you haven't already!
Fan the Flames...
I knew a (really wonderful) dude who told me he wanted to start buying candles because he'd recently talked himself into buying plants and liked how much they spruced up his apartment. It struck me as so wild that buying plants and candles was like... not a thing he considered doing because it was very aesthetic/ambience-focused and he'd broadly heard that was "feminine."
As a woman, there's definitely some stuff you don't think of as feminine until you talk to a man who's been told otherwise.
My Locks
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I'm a guy with hair down to the bottom of my shoulder blades. One evening, I was hanging out with a bunch of friends when one of them decided she wanted to braid my hair. Oh my God did it feel amazing! I love the feeling of someone else playing with my hair.
It's a new world in the realm of gender boundaries... finally. I myself have never cared about a gender boundary. As I child, I loved a good, sassy high heel. And I didn't care who new it. And I never understood why anyone would. I've just grown out of them, Lord they are rough on concrete. But if a buff, Texas born construction worker wants to blow off some steam in a heightened Jimmy Choo while sipping prosecco with his boys at a rodeo bar. Then so be it. If he's smiling while doing it, he earned it.
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I can't definitively say I've come face to face with the spirits. But I have had some unsettling feelings in the dark. Shadows are just shadows sometimes, but who can be sure.
I hear it...
Nbc Wings GIF by HULUGiphy"I was helping my dad clean my grandma's house after she passed and I went in and was trying to find a song in my phone and before I could I heard a cough plain as day come from down the hallway where her room was. She died of lung and throat cancer it was pretty crazy."
Running Past...
"When I was 5 I remember getting home from my grandpa's birthday party. For context my mom was pregnant with my brother at the time, so my parents had already bought his crib. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a women in a white dress and long black hair standing over my brother's crib. I managed to wake up my dad so he could take me to the bathroom. When I got back it was still there. It was only until morning when it disappeared. Every now and then I see a glance of what I assume is that thing running past the backyard."
The Cat
"My best friend and his wife had moved to a new apartment. I came over to visit a few times, and each time I'd see the motion of a cat in my peripheral vision. Not the image of a cat, but a sense of how a cat moves. Anyway, one day I finally cracked some joke about the ghost cat in the place and his wife was instantly saying "See! See! I told you we had a ghost cat!"
"excuse me"
"I worked graveyard shift in a dementia ward for 4 years and it was anything but quiet. I was working with a nurse one night when we both heard a resident say "excuse me." We looked around and no-one was there. I checked on the resident in question and she was fast asleep in her own room. Many of us also experienced someone whistling in the ward late at night and one nurse even managed to catch a video of it happening. It was unnerving to say the least."
Clueless
Skeleton GIFGiphy"I once saw someone short walk by me in my house. They walked into the laundry room which only has one way in. I walked into it behind them and they where gone. I thought it was my little brother but I went to his room and he was asleep. I still have no clue what that was."
- ImBolio
Now was everyone here positive they were sober? Just asking. Those are certainly spooky moments. I'd like some video footage please. Continue...
Reflections
ghost library GIFGiphy"I was up at 3am when I was maybe 7 or 8. I looked out the window and saw a woman in a white dress run across my yard. I could see through her. She was transparent like the reflections on the window."
"you alright?"
"So, my work place is haunted. I was having a really crap day, and as a cleaner, it's normal that me and my co worker will be the only ones left at night. So I was standing on the second floor, leaning on the banister for the stair case, when I heard this male voice say in my ear "you alright?" Clear as day. I turned around so fast and nobody was there and it scared the hell out of me."
- Rex-the-
Watching Me
"I remember as a young kid I usually use to sit in my bed and watch tv with my room door open while the adjacent guest bedroom next to mine would always have the door shut. I always remember seeing that door fully open and close by itself multiple times a day very slowly and gently. Never really bothered me much now that I think about it… but there were other creepier experiences I had in the same house that made me feel uncomfortable like I was being watched."
Betsy
"I went to the Betsy Ross House as a really little kid in the early 90s. Normal house but I was confused why the tour guide never talked about the woman on the chair crying at the edge of the bed in Betsy Ross's bedroom. So I asked about it. No one else saw the woman at the edge of the bed. I figured it was just a wax museum since there was a wax statue of a man in uniform rolling bullets in the basement."
"Years later, I was looking at haunted Philadelphia tours to go on with a friend and the Betsy Ross House was on it. I was like "woah! I was there!" and looked into it some more. Turns out there is a woman at the end of the bed crying and a uniformed man in the basement that people have reported seeing. There is no way that 8 year old me would have known about either of these things."
hello kitty...
hello kitty lol GIF by Animation Domination High-DefGiphy"I had this hello kitty Balloon In my bed room, it had a string and weight on it. So it was late, I had the lights on just Sitting on my bed. The Balloon turns, faces my door, slowly floats into my hallway and turns and floats into my sister's room. To this day I am scared of balloons."
They are among us and they like Hello Kitty. I'm probably rattling the paranormal cages and they'll come for me next, but I'm ready. I feel like this thread has prepared me.
Boo!
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