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Girly or boy.....ee?

21:46 / 08.04.02

on another, serious thread, someone called me "girly".

*shock, horror!*

shit, I spit my gum 20 feet, I cuss worse than that uncle they stopped inviting to weddings and funerals, I drive fast and Im twice as likely to win in a fight as you. hell, Im twice as likely to get into one in the first place. if someone needs to move house and wants it done now, no fuss no whining and no huge parties of people, they call me. want to lift that box that the only guy in the office can barely budge? thats me. my nails and hair are a mess (hey, I cut them and clean them! what more is there?) and the thought of tips and blowdryers make me squirm. pantyhose? heels? only if Im in love, sweetie. look at me! Im practically swaggering. manly!

so what is "girly" or "manly" or whatever? and how do you fit in, or do you?

pointless and uncalled for

21:49 / 08.04.02

Yep, it's certainly warrantable that you're much more dude than chick.

Manly? nope
Boyee? errr.......nope
Studly? Kingdom of the blind my son.
Chumply? And we have a winner.

21:51 / 08.04.02

I am generally regarded as manly.
Despite the gayness.
And the dancing.

22:04 / 08.04.02

I am personly.

Zoom.

22:06 / 08.04.02

gay men can be manly!

chop some wood! lift some stuff! show off the manly pelt you call body hair! do you need an instrument worthy of being referred to as a weapon to shave? MANLY!

pinstripe fictionsuit

22:08 / 08.04.02

I know what you mean, bitchiekittie. My own pet peeve is that I am oft considered femme, and I amn't...in all but appearance, I like to think I am butch as fuck. Basically. I can mix concrete efficiently and without whining, I kick arse on the Playstation, I too am useful to shift things (my arm strength is pathetic, but I am tenacious and have a fuck of a lot of stamina). Got short nails because it is more convenient, and because long nails (my own) make me feel physically ill - but I've got painted toenails, always. I am stereotypically 'blokey' in various things that I'd rather not be stereotypically 'blokey' in (for instance, I often try to come up with ways that people can feel better, instead of just sympathizing with them), but I do try to be 'gentlemanly' at every available opportunity. Gentlemanly is good.

There are not 'qualities' which are the sole preserve of the 'manly' or the 'womanly' or whatever - these are just easy generalizations, I think - a form of shorthand. It is all fantastically complicated, far too complicated for me. I am chucking about these terms like a bad juggler, and hoping I can get away with it, 'cause it's in the Conversation...

22:09 / 08.04.02

anyone who has met the lady concerned could comment on the inaccuracy of the term "girly"

girlies, I believe, would not consider American History X a date movie and do not put their car stereos on at quite such volume. And you should hear her fart.

pinstripe fictionsuit

22:11 / 08.04.02

I'd just like to clarify that fridgemagnet is talking about bitchiekittie, not me. I like music at very demure levels...

pointless and uncalled for

22:14 / 08.04.02

Actually it would be to your benefit of you don't hear her fart.

I'd like to revise my earlier assertation. It has been bought to my attention that I am girly.

The supporting evidence is that in recent weeks I have performed such activities as watching friends while eating Hagen Daas and helping two guys get dressed for a wedding.

22:18 / 08.04.02

this thread reminds me of that film, but i'm a cheerleader. you know when rupaul has all those gay boys chopping wood and the other lady is forcing all the lesbians to do housework? excellent.
but to answer the question, i am so girly it could make you puke. but i don't 'do' make-up and i hate wearing frocks. lets just say i really like being a girl, and having all the things girls have.
(apart from my boobs)
(but thats a different thread)

22:22 / 08.04.02

*SHOCK! HORROR!*

Im telling you, that was not a fart!

pointless and uncalled for

22:22 / 08.04.02

And what would you say it was then?

22:35 / 08.04.02

not you, mister - I know you are full of crap. typical sissy girl, you are. dont make me come up there to fight!

22:45 / 08.04.02

Yeah, I'm a girly girl. I do enjoy makeup, and wearing dresses, and yes, even having guys open car doors for me. That said, I am also aware that there are more important things in life to worry about than hair and makeup. If I need to, I can be just as "butch" as the next person. You can be strong, and intelligent, and still be wearing high heels.

22:50 / 08.04.02

I know that all of this "manly" and "girlie" stuff is bullshit. but thats part of the fun of tearing into it - do you fit? do you not fit? do you feel bad about that? why the hell should you?

wembley can change in 28 days

22:57 / 08.04.02

Some days I would give my firstborn to be a girly girl. Or at least to just look like one. Somehow, being tall and of general rugby player stature has never made me feel comfortable in mixed company. I purposefully take up more space on the subway, cross my legs like a guy when sitting, rarely wear skirts, like my hair shirt, and almost always identify with male characters in literature and films. Needless to say, my boy-catching skills are much hampered. But it's just the way I am.

23:04 / 08.04.02

Im telling you, that was not a fart!

and I suppose it was sudden atmospheric freak conditions that made the bedcovers lift up?

Personally, I enjoy playing with stereotypes. Anyone who takes them seriously doesn't deserve to know the real me. Thus I hold pint glasses with my little finger sticking out.

23:53 / 08.04.02

Etymology corner:

"Girl" or "Girlie" meant a young person of either sex in Olde and Middle English. But then they all wore skirts in those days.

Here in Scotland we pronounce it "Gurrull" which has an altogether more robust and farting /concrete mixing /barfighting quality to it. (Apart from when Ganesh calls me a girlie poof...)

bitchiekittie, you have become Calamity Jane in my mind now, chewing on a ceegar and making Wild Bill Hickok wear the frock. My kinda woman...

Mordant Carnival

00:04 / 09.04.02

I used to fret about this sort of thing too. However, having discovered my inner Lego I now feel impervious to such criticisms. I am the Lego Spaceman; I am unassailable.

07:26 / 09.04.02

I think my adopted sister is tougher than me, she almost threw me down the stairs once when I made some comment about her looking like Tom Petty without her makeup on (which is not true at all, just how we are with each other). My little sister, who is reading over my shoulder, claims that I deserved that, perhaps she's right (she also claims a lot that she swears that I'm gay, because I talk with my hands a lot and can be rather effeminate at times). I don't have a girly frame at all, I'm built like a typical corn-fed midwestern boy, tall and thick, not fat so much, but thick and I do have a bit of a south-side Chicago accent which is quite possibly the un-girliest accent out there.
My sisters have the whole butch thing going on, though, but my little sister is pretty girly, and actually looks really cute with a mohawk, but both of them would probably punch someone in their face where that someone inclined to call them "girly".

11:03 / 09.04.02

i am perceived as butch, often get called 'sir' in shops and restaurants, have pretty damn big biceps, but it's rather cosmetic. i am a total girl. although i do love my airpistol, and am a pretty mean shot. and i nearly cried the other day at the absolute joy on this old man's face when his dog was picked up and hugged by a friend.... i am a mass of contradictions. as has been discussed elsewhere here, the boundaries of masculine and feminine are terribly restrictive and...well...unrealistic. god help me if i ever fit in.

pinstripe fictionsuit

11:15 / 09.04.02

She *is* a total girl. It's terribly cute...

11:37 / 09.04.02

I think I identify most with SFD's "I am a mass of contradictions." I hate wearing makeup on a daily basis(much to my mother's dismay). I wear skirts only if necessary. I have no problem watching blow-'em-up action movies with my father and often curse better than half of my guy friends. I have one girlfriend that I hang out with occasionally; the rest of my friends are all guys. My parents suspect I'm bi but never really get into it.

That being said, I cry like a baby at romantic movies, I love getting dressed up in my little black dress, and I'm trying to find Mr. Right (or Ms. Right) if s/he ever shows up. I like it when guys open doors for me, but god help him if he insists, especially if I'm right there and can do it myself.

God. This hasn't helped me at all. *grin*

16:27 / 09.04.02

I consider myself girly (being a lifelong wuss and proud of it), but I don't think anyone else does, it's too horrible to contemplate.

I nearly threw a party when a waiter called me 'young lady'.

But I got my hair cut yesterday, so who knows, things may change..

17:46 / 09.04.02

I was once called "perky" and I think I was tempted to hit the guy just to prove how wrong he was.

But I think I am in little danger of being called "girlie." Once in awhile the giggles take over, sure, and I did go to an all-girl slumber party last weekend, but the word conjures up - at least to my mind - chick flicks and ponytails, eyes rolled at videogames and comics. I was kicked out of the girlie club long ago, and then banned from ever re-entering it after staying up till the sun rose playing Perfect Dark. And I like it that way.

19:47 / 09.04.02

Having spent a good decade in adolescent acneform misery (the depths of which, I was firmly convinced, only Morrissey understood), I favour "boily"...

20:30 / 09.04.02

wembley: "I like my hair shirt . . ."

and I like my cat-o-nine-tails . . .

(does that make me girly, boily, or just monastic?)

alas.

21:44 / 10.04.02

Rizla - what did you do to your hair? And what did you do with the *clippings*?

Disco is My Class War

08:45 / 11.04.02

Can you be boyish but maybe not 'manly'? I think I am. It should be obvious to most people on the board how little I fit into 'girly', but I do have my femme moments. I still let people light my cigarettes for me; that's unless they're more femme than I am. I still cross my legs in public.

And hey, I like my hair shirt too. Also my cat'o'nine. That just makes us cool, alas...

14:55 / 12.04.02

Rizla - what did you do to your hair? And what did you do with the *clippings*?

I now sport an attempt at the archetypal Thurston/Beck/Shaggy* floppy on the top, short at the back thing.

They sweeped up the clippings before I could make the obvious 'sell it to a bald man' crack.

*from Scooby-Doo, obviously, not Mr.Boombastic..