My friend was crying tears of joy as he told me him and his partner are expecting a girl. It was beautiful to see and feel and it gave me hope.
It gave me hope because there have been times in my life where I wished I had been born male. I thought my life would have been easier. I come from a culture that even to this day favours males. I am blessed to have parents that tried their utmost to protect me from this but still I felt it from the wider society.
It is more common than you think. Farming communities favoured males to work on the farm. Families preferred males to carry on the family name.
I’ve worked with many a client from different cultures who saw scenes where even as a baby, because they were a girl that something was wrong with them. This led them to hide themselves, act like boys and often they felt they had to prove themselves, so working doubly hard to show they were capable.
We choose our beliefs and thoughts. It is time to challenge our own thinking. It is up to us to let go of these old models. It’s time to embrace all sides of ourselves and others to be who we want to be, no matter our gender.
Time to embrace our femininity and our masculinity.