S.L. Kyle Feb 8, 20227 min When I was growing up, there was a very short period of time when I was blissfully unaware of what existing as a female in the world meant. Like Eve before she bit the apple, I was ignorant of my body as a sinful, hated thing, as something that needs to be monitored, fixed, judged, and scrutinized into oblivion. I didn’t yet know that to be a girl is to always be considered less than, a poor imitation of what a real human being is: a man. Although this period didn’t last very long, I still consider myself lucky, as there are many girls who never get to experience this blissful state at all if their childhoods are marked by terror and abuse. Some men pretending to be women bemoan the fact that they never got to experience girlhood. They also accuse actual women of being privileged as they were not shamed for playing with dolls in their childhood. It seems they imagine girlhood is all ponies, sparkles and having sleepovers with your friends where you giggle over boys and have pillow fights. Such a pink, sanitized notion of girlhood proves men can never know what it’s like to exist in this world as a female child. I’ll tell you what it’s like, I want to say to them. I’ll tell you what it’s like and then you can tell me if it’s still an experience you feel you missed out on. ”Some men pretending to be women bemoan the fact that they never got to experience girlhood.” I grew up in the nineties, a time when strict gender roles appeared quite relaxed. As a child, I played with both Barbie dolls and dinosaurs, Hot Wheels and Polly Pockets, something that was seen as perfectly normal back then but could have me dragged off to the nearest gender clinic today. I saw no distinction between “girl” toys or “boy” toys—to me they were just toys. Like a lot of kids, I wanted to play with whatever was fun to play with and let my imagination run wild. I climbed trees, rode my bike, ran around with kids in the neighborhood—lucky to be growing up before the era of parents covering their children in layers of metaphorical bubble wrap with the intention to keep them safe. Back then, I had no notion that a girl was supposed to be anything other than herself. But soon after, the world made sure I was dispelled of that innocent idea.