Growing up tomboy, there were many things I always avoided that other girls enjoyed - dresses, braiding each other's hair, and crushes (especially crushes). When all the other girls were busy talking about boys and painting their nails a pretty pink, I was always playing laser tag and talking about the latest anime craze. That’s right, I’m an anime fan, but I’ll save that for a later article.

I still have many tomboy characteristics. My usual outfit is a t-shirt and jeans with tennis shoes. I’ll still go for a game of laser tag any day and I find videogame violence kind of cool. However, now I’m always trying to do something new with my hair. I wear eyeliner, mascara, and eye shadow; I even paint my nails every three days! Basically, I’m becoming what I made fun of.

Remember a time when it was practically blasphemy for a woman to wear pants? That was a step above all women being expected to be housewives, yet still a step below women and men being considered equal members in society. My friend's mother once commented on how now it’s no big deal to see a girl in jeans, yet a while back, it was never even a thought. At first I thought it had to do with fads and said I would do it anyway. Later, I realized I was wrong. Women wore skirts because it was just the way things were. It was like a student strutting into school nude - not even a consideration.

Now everyone wears pants. It's no big deal. Skirts and dresses are still considered a female thing, though. Understandably, it will take a bit longer for guys to be able to walk around wearing skirts without being teased. It’s something a lot of people are still small-minded about.

Yet, ideas are changing. Girls are getting more and more into baseball, football, and other sports that are considered ‘tres male’. Instead of women being expected to stay at home and raise the kids, some fathers are becoming stay-at-home dads. We may even soon have a female-president (not that I want Hilary Clinton to be president).

There is still a firm stereotype of girls, just like there’s a firm stereotype of boys. An old one is that girls aren’t interested in video games. This one has faded a bit in the past five years or so, especially with games like Guitar Hero and Dance, Dance Revolution, but I have found the stereotype still very much exists.