Behind every successful woman is a suit of men's clothing? There seems to be a trend for women to dress as men in order to feel successful, confident, professional - the ideal stereotypical man. It's sad for women and unfair to men. Its letting stereotypes continue to thrive when we should be changing them, not ourselves.

People get angry if you post anything less than agreeable about gender transitioning, fluidity, and all the other words and phrases which just keep on showing up. They all mean the same thing really. People have dived so deep into gender stereotypes they can't see their way any more. We don't need gender stereotypes. We don't need more divisions, more definitions of gender.

We live with a flood of gender issues. Created by people, man made - using an old fashioned, non-gender neutral phrase.

We call everyone "guys" while demanding militant attention to gender identity otherwise. It's very weird. I've posted about the "guys" thing before. Today I'm posting about women dressing as men, behaving and acting as they believe men do, stereotypical men. Why are these women changing how they look to suit old stereotypes so they can feel better about themselves? Why do they need a change of clothes to make them feel masculine in order to feel better about themselves? Why do they need to be masculine to be better women?

It really worries me that women can't seem to feel good about being women any more. Too many women seem to feel it is easier to become a masculine stereotype than to live as a woman and feel good about who you are, what you can accomplish, and how the world sees you.

Women call themselves queer, non-binary, gender fluid...  wear traditional/ stereotypical male clothes then believe they are/feel stronger, more professional, business-like, confident. The clothes make the man, they say. But, that's a very old expression. Why isn't it outdated? Why do so many women, people, still believe it, literally?

Gender should not define who you are. You should. Who you are should be about you, not your gender. This is what a stereotype is. Defining someone based on perceptions of race, religion, politics, age, gender, etc. We should be trying to understand this. But we seem to be sinking deeper and deeper into it. Giving the stereotypes new life and much more importance.

A man likes fixing cars and that's ok. A woman likes sewing and crochet, that's ok too. No one expects them to change genders to suit their hobbies, interests, or professions. If a person enjoys ballet we decide they must be feminine. A boy who wants a ballet costume, isn't just a boy interested in ballet and wearing a costume. If a female is interested in fixing cars she must be masculine. A girl who likes science, technology, auto mechanics, carpentry, plumbing, maybe even construction work... she shouldn't also like wearing a pretty pink dress. You can't be feminine and like those "boy things". Does this mean a woman in a dress, or wearing pretty colours, should feel less confident, less capable, less self-reliant? Those are really old stereotypes. Why do we still promote them and worse, believe in them?

More than believing in stereotypes we now enforce them. Women who begin dressing as men (typical and traditional men's clothing styles) say they feel different about themselves. They feel powerful, stronger, all traditional things associated with men. Men dress as women (typical and traditional female clothing, cosmetics, jewelry styles) and say they feel softer, gentler, etc. But, changing your clothes, hairstyle, getting cosmetic surgery, none of that changes your brain. Playing a video game you take on a character, an avatar, but its still you playing the game. Like a wolf in sheep's clothing - the wolf is just wearing a new skin, under that is still a wolf. It's just a skin, a covering, a costume.

If you want to live differently change your personality. You don't need a different pronoun, a new wardrobe or surgery. Just be yourself, the person you want to be. Make the change to who you are, rather than making cosmetic changes to suit a stereotype.

Be yourself. You are not your gender, your gender is just part of the whole. This post may upset some people who don't really read it. Just skim for keywords to go of on a flaming rant. But, it should upset people. People need to think about why we have so many gender issues, why do we still pigeon hole people into what makes a man and what makes a woman, based on preconceived notions from long ago?  Why is that accepted and encouraged and protesting it (pointing it out at all) aggressively discouraged?

If you wander into this site and stay more than a second or two, you may wonder why its here at all. This site began as my first personal site (I'm not sure what year that was now) then the domain was sort of hijacked. The person who was hosting the domain forgot to pay for it on time. So, I lost the domain. For many years. I did keep running my own sites, personal, for other people and some on other networks:  Suite101, Lockergnome, BackWash, BellaOnline, HubPages, Squidoo, and others I can't think of right now. But, when I typed thatgrrl.com into the domain search and it showed up as available (no longer owned by anyone not using it but asking thousands of dollars for it) I bought it again. So here it is.

Meanwhile, I had several other sites and domains which I was burnt out from trying to run. Plus, there are very few people still keeping sites for personal reasons rather than monetizing, commercializing, tracking, spying, and you know the rest if you have been around online awhile. Most of the software for making websites has become customized for people making cookie cutter sites for clients and selling it as professional websites. I did not learn a lot of HTML, far from much when it came to software, scripts, etc. But, I still work on my sites, by myself with the help of software developers and others when I search for it online.

Although I believe there is a virus and people are sick with it, I don’t believe in the need for lockdowns, shut ins and etc. Most people who have had the virus recovered from it, just like many other flu viruses. You don’t hear about them. We don’t hear about domestic violence caused by people still having access to abused substances while in close confines with the people they abuse. How many people are living a nightmare and would rather take their chances with a virus? We don’t hear about people committing suicide. Virus tallies include people who had the virus but died from other causes, not always related at all.

We are given endless propaganda about staying home for the good of others/ everyone. So we are guilted into obeying. Meanwhile businesses are closed, many will not reopen, jobs are gone. There is talk of roads being closed – for a virus, really? What are we not supposed to see while living under the roof over our heads?

People are trapped at home, dependent on the Internet with all the various spyware from marketers. I’m sure this is a great time for gathering information. What happens when they start using it? Here we are, herded into our cages, waiting and ready for whatever messages they want to imprint in our brains. Marketing has been preying on people for generations, now it’s just gotten so much easier. Being pushed into the lemming mentality makes us all fish in buckets for them.

This extreme panic is for some other reason. This is not the first virus to make its way around the world. Does that qualify it as a pandemic? I wonder if some people just wanted to live in a zombie/ apocalypse movie. Others are making money from it and other still are using it for their own ends. These are the people that worry me. What is all the hysteria hiding? Why are businesses shut down and people trapped in their homes (hoping or assuming everyone has a home) for an endless time but the quarantine is just 2 weeks. Why are schools shut down but children from split homes are still shuttled back and forth several times a week from family to family. There are many things which don’t make sense.

This is why I created the coronavirus ASCII art. It’s a protest. I hope it gets people thinking, for themselves, rather than listening to the bottomless propaganda flooding the media. I think Con19 is the right terminology.

I wear glasses, also known as spectacles. This year I am aged 55 years and still a woman. People, some of them, think women don't explore. Those people are misled. I am surprised when someone is surprised that I still get out and explore, photographing old places, mainly in rural Ontario. Although, other than Toronto, a lot of Ontario seems fairly rural, or has melded into a suburb of Toronto.

I grew up in a Toronto suburb. Originally, it was a lot of trees and water and some animals, well before that it was all a lot of gas. How far back do you want to go? Less long ago, it was a town, village, called Port Union. Scarborough absorbed it. I was never happy about that. Even as a child I didn't like seeing history lost. I doubt many people now living there know it used to be Port Union. I don't count, because I don't live there any more. After the high school years I moved around. I have lived all over southern Ontario and visited most of the rest of it. I also lived in the US and the Dominican Republic for awhile. Different culture experiences. I would still like to visit more of the world but - when you're young you don't have the money and when you have the money you have somehow become old and less inclined to venture afar.

But, I still do, in my own way. Always, in my own way.

This site will display my photographs, experiences, discoveries and ideas current, ongoing and as far back as I can still find photographs I have taken.

This is from my old Live Journal posts.

Hello again LiveJournal and LiveJournal people. I have just (yesterday afternoon) gotten home from giving up my home so my Mom and brother could have time self quarantined after coming back from the US. I was away a month, mostly because my niece and I like working, cooking and having some fun together. I stayed at my sister's house. Now I'm back, in Barrie, where my brother and Mother have ransacked their way through everything I own, every least bit of paper, literally everything. Boundaries and privacy do not exist here. When I was a girl I wished for a lobotomy to make my life easier. Now I'm a 55 year old woman and I know none of them will ever read this so I can say that I almost wish I were dead. Not quite enough to die. What little spark is still in my head that just will not entirely, fully give up? I don't know why I keep going when I have almost nothing, but I do. Well, LiveJournal, I don't know when I will be back, but most likely I will be back, eventually. If not... well, what did any of it really matter.