Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I love the way my grandsons are still willing and thrilled with pink nail polish and rainbow shirts.  They don't see gender in most cases, though they both love trains and trucks over dolls.  They love to play with girls, and the girls are rough and tumble, as my granddaughter was at this age.  How it will all change is fairly predictable, though not certain.  But right now, they are free of all that stereotyping.  I can vaguely remember wanting to be Roy Rogers.  My parents bought me a cowgirl hat, vest and six guns.  But Dale Evans was not my hero, it was Roy, Trigger and Bullet.  My mother was sending me to dance school, so I had fancy, sparkly outfits she made for me and I still have my ballet and tap shoes.  Later, I had an affinity for Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley.  I still have the musicals and watch them once in a while.  But the lesson in those days was to pretty yourself up and be a bride at the end.  Submit to the male.  I'm not saying I regret switching gears, as being a cowboy was contraindicated considering I'm part Native American.  Who wants to be on the losing side?  But sometimes it feels like being female is being on the losing side, too.