My first experience realizing gender difference occurred when I was about three years old. I visited California. My cousin who was a year younger than me lived there. We played in the garden, surrounded by cacti and flowers. It was summer. I remember my aunt turning on the water hose for us to spray around. As children we couldn't have imagined anything funnier. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay My cousin took off his shirt and was running back and forth through the sprinklers like a madman. Of course I wasn't about to let him do it alone, so I joined. I tore off my shirt and galloped through the drops of water falling from the sky (about half a meter above my head). The next thing I remember, our day on the water was over and I was inside reading my favorite book about dinosaurs. My aunt came out to the giant chair I was sitting in and took the book from my lap, just as I was getting to the good part. “Honey,” he said, “you can't take your shirt off. Your belly button is a private part. I didn't take the time to argue, "But my cousin always takes his shirt off." “You are not him,” he said, “you are a lady, and women don't show their navels.” I remember having these conversations a few times afterward, each time with different members of my family. I just couldn't figure out what made me different from my cousin and best friend. Our subsequent adventures were few and far between. No longer did we have long Spiderman marathons as we raced our cars around the circular coffee table in the living room. The blocks weren't for building towers, they were for building horse stables and houses for my fake family. I no longer read the green and white dinosaur book to my cousin before bed every night. I was constantly scolded to close my legs, sit up straight, with my elbows off the table. I was given a pretend puppy to watch instead of running around with Antonio while he pretended to be a wolf. Since none of these new activities interested me, I instead read books about all the fake adventures I wanted to have and even learned to write. I now lived in a gendered world. The rigid gender ideals I grew up with definitely influenced my experience in this class, as well as my choice of this class in the first grade. From the moment I understood this idea of ​​inequality between girls and boys, I despised and rejected it. I knew I was bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than my younger cousin. These early experiences influenced my view of the world. While I don't despise everything that is considered feminine in this society, I despise gender inequalities. I hate that certain games, toys, colors, jobs, and clothes are limited to certain genders. I hate that boys are considered more capable of success than girls, and I hate that girls are generally only the gender that is allowed to feel emotions other than anger or hunger. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay This passionate hatred for our society's gender ideals was instilled in me the same day all my favorite things were stripped from me. And so in class I struggle to understand the true differences between genders and sexes. I look at gender ideals in different cultures, societies and religions in an attempt to make sense of them and ultimately change them.