I hoped and hope it wasn’t the apex, Butterfly. I assumed that by this point, gender nonconformity would be seen as normal, as nothing to fuss about. I thought we’d progress from the 80s and pretty much all people would become more accepting. But now, all these decades later, we seem to have regressed.
When I was growing up, my dad told me that men and women were equal and that I, a girl, could do anything I wanted. He made a point of emphasising to me that ‘girl things’ and ‘boy things’ were silly and outdated. He happily dressed my brother in ‘girls colours’. Now I see some teens thinking that they must be a boy if they like ‘boy things’. I find it incredibly sad. They’re limiting themselves and seem to be reverting to 1950s stereotypes and judging themselves by them.
Yes, there were a lot of gender-bending celebs in the 80s but there were ordinary people too, especially young people who were inspired by this. I was one of them. I wore ‘boys’ clothes’ and laughed in people’s faces when they said they were ‘boys’ clothes. My friend was very GNC and my mum thought she was a boy - how we all sniggered at such old-fashionedness! But now, my mum would probably be right, and the person with very short hair, etc, would be identifying as a boy. That’s not progress.
What would be progress is for both men and women to feel able to fully express themselves no matter what their sex without fear of bullying or taunts.