Gender Communication: Personal

In my life, I have been nourished by both of my parents. I am attached to my mom, but as well as my dad. When I was younger, I played every sport imaginable, but I also danced and did the typical girl activities. Because both of my parents gave me the two different gender influences, I had equal guidance on what I could do. Since sports are typically seen as a masculine thing to do, my dad wanted me to break the mold of that a play them. I played softball, basketball, volleyball and soccer and even did karate. I think that partaking in all of these "masculine" activities has made me a well rounded person. But then on the flip-side I also did ballet, hip-hop, jazz, Irish step dancing and tap. These are typical girl activities that my mom liked for me to partake in. Both of my parents didn't care what I did as long as I was happy. And having an older male cousin influenced me to do the boyish activities as well. I wanted to be like him in every way possible. I would dress in boys clothes and wish I was a boy sometimes because they seemed so much cooler than girls. I think that the difference in gender communication is how your parents choose to raise you because they have the greatest influence on your life. Today I am not overly boyish or overly girly, I like to think that I can equally relate to boys and girls because of my experiences that I had when I was younger with both sexes. I have best friends that are girls and I have best friends that are guys. Being able to relate to both sexes is a benefit because if you have a problem you can get the opinion from two different ways of thought. For example, I just broke up with my boyfriend and it was very helpful having my guy friend be there and give me advice on what to do. He was able to tell me what my ex might be thinking about the situation and it has really helped me. But my best friend thats a girl has a completely different view on the situation and gives me different advice on what to do. So although it is very confusing having two people giving me two different sets of advice, it is also very helpful. Gender communication has been a very large part of my life and especially recently. Growing up and being exposed to both males and females has been a huge help to having to relate to people and their problems.