Moment Two.

This happened at one of our usual gatherings for the Memorial Day weekend. A few of us decided to watch a movie; myself and three of my cousins. The movie was Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Even though this movie is a comedy, something happened that I did not expect. In one scene, the main character ends up crying because he couldn’t accomplish something or other. My one cousin, who is ten, laughed and said, “Men don’t cry. He is a grown man.” At first I just stared blankly, I did not think he would have ever said something like that. My other cousin, that just turned twenty, told him, “Men do cry, all men cry or should cry. I cry.” Something else I did not expect, but something I am glad that was said. My ten year old cousin looks up to the older male cousins in my family, watching and learning from them and for him to hear that, it may or may not have changed his opinion on that one thing, but at least it could be in the back of his mind. I do not really expect gender stereotypes to diminish completely, but for a ten year old to think that keeping emotions in is something he has to do, kind of makes me feel a little on edge. It makes me wonder what else he thinks he can or cannot, and should do because he is a male. In a way, I am beginning to think that he is going to mature into one who is set on gender roles and sticking to gender expectations, since he already believes certain stereotypes now. Then again, he is still young, and being younger some are still learning the ways of the world. I guess with different generations, children are raised differently, because I know most of my cousins who are my age do not have those ‘gender stereotypes’ embedded in their minds. I like to think I don’t.