Boys Prefer Sport: Girls Prefer Clothes. How True is This Statement?
by If we were to consider the young people of, say, fifty years ago, the statement would be undeniably true. In those days, sport was a predominantly male pursuit. The girl were considered the fairer sex and they were more concerned with how they look, thus the preference for beautiful clothes.
Nowadays, this statement is no longer true. There are as many games for girls as there are for boys. With the exception of some games like rugger and cricket, girls participate in almost all that boys play. In athletics we see girls performing just as well as the boys, some even better. They jump, run, throw and generally enjoy the sporting events as much as the boys. In fact some girl are aggressive and highly competitive. I have seen girls elbowing one another in a basketball game, uttering unmentionable words when angry and shouting themselves hoarse cheering or jeering the participants. So much for the myth that girls are weaker and not sport-loving. They definitely revel in sport, with some exceptions.
If we look at some of the female athletes of today, especially those from the Eastern European countries, we would sympathise with the sport bodies. Some of these “girls” are built more like men! It reflects on the extremes some countries have gone to just to produce medal-winning athletes. It is a kind of madness.
On the subject of clothes, of fashion, we find that it is no longer a female domain. Boys love fancy clothes and the latest fashion just as much as girls. Departmental Stores have sections devoted specially for the male. We have boys and men who are so label-conscious that they will not touch the “inferior” stuff. They could gladly spend hundred of dollars for an in style outfit just to impress their piers. Clothes has become a means to gauge the status and the acceptability of a person. Faded blue jeans are “in” with certain groups while “new wave” fashion has gripped others. In the fifties it was the teddy-boys look. Then the hippies took over. After that, the types of clothes and fashion have proliferated beyond imagination.
If we ask who the people responsible for such preoccupation with clothes are we can only point our fingers at the fashion designers and trend-setters. And who are these people who can sway the rest of the world? They are predominantly male. Designers, pop singers and other trend-setters are mostly male.
Apart from this increasing female indulgence in sport and male indulgence in clothes, it can be said that there are still some who subscribe to the old belief that boys prefer sport and girls prefer clothes. This belief is slowly being eroded away. The day will come when boys and girls will participate together in all kinds of pursuits without obvious preferences. 
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