“Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it’s okay to be a boy; for girls it’s like promotion.
But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, according to you, because secretly you believe that being a girl is degrading.”
― Ian McEwan, The Cement Garden (later used in Madonna’s What It Feels Like For A Girl)
What they say:
- “Don’t act girly”
- “Don’t be fem”
- “Straight-acting only”
- “Real men only”
- “No queens”
The message they send:
- “For a boy to act like a girl is degrading.”
It’s not just internalised homophobia; it’s also sexist.
