Gender Expression Through My Life

One of the earliest and fun memories I have from being a little kid was playing basketball on a really small hoop with my dad. We would be in my basement with one of the Little Tikes plastic hoops. My dad would be on his knees and play against me while I would be running around trying to score. Playing on that hoop with my dad were the first times I ever played basketball and ever since then, I have always been playing the game. My parents would both be smiling and enjoying watching me try to play on that hoop in the basement, no matter how bad it looked. 

I think since I have been playing basketball for so long, my body has become fluent to how I should move while I’m playing and it has basically become conditioned in my brain on how to play. Being active all my life has helped with my relationship with my body because it helps keep me in shape which is something I put on a high importance. As Vikki Krane Et Al. states on page 188 that women live in a paradox; I can feel some type of understanding towards this. Now, women have it much tougher than my example because of the difference our country sees how a woman’s body ought to be. As a kid I would do drawing or painting quite often when I was at school or at home. This may be perceived as not a masculine activity, but at the time I enjoyed making scribbles or designs on paper. I enjoyed making the pictures that I made even though they might not seem as masculine activities, I would still do it. It didn’t make a difference to me when I was younger about the things I did and whether they were considered masculine or feminine activities; I did whatever I wanted.