Somewhere around 2/28 to 3/1

[tookashirototheknee]

I would like everyone to join me in wishing a very happy birthday to Liminal Space's best six-and-a-half year old, Takashi Shirogane!

Happy birthday, dude. If I could make things, I'd make you a cake.

Comments

[vrepit_no]

Wh-- Oh geeze. No, they know I'm really twenty-six, I swear. Matt's just doing the annual joke run, Eren, I promise.

[bite_the_hand]

I'd really hope they know just by looking at you.

...It's not a very funny joke. [Sorry Matt. He's not being rude on purpose. He's just too blunt for his own good sometimes.]

[vrepit_no]

Don't worry about it too much. This sort of stuff happens all the time at home. There isn't as much life and death involved. It's mostly just like. Cake with toy cars and nerf darts on them, or plenty of decor that's blue with white polkadots, in case I forgot I was a boy. It's all in good fun.

[He's resigned to it. He thought Matt had forgotten, what with the skipping yesterday.]

[bite_the_hand]

Uh... Toy cars are for kids, so I'm guessing "nerf darts" are for kids too? ...What the hell do blue and white polkadots have to do with being a boy?

[Now he sounds even more confused than he did a moment ago.]

[vrepit_no]

You don't have that stupid thing where pink is for girls and blue is for boys? Color code your baby so everyone knows to get them balls or dolls?

[He is actually a little jealous, if that's the case. Just a tiny bit.]

[bite_the_hand]

...No. We don't have anything like that. Why would you color code a baby!? It's not like they can tell you what colors they like yet! I know modern worlds don't have a lot of the problems with getting materials and dyes that we do back at the Walls, but shouldn't that mean they could give the baby a bunch of different colors so they'll have something they like for sure? Wouldn't-

[And then he breaks off as something else Shiro said finally registers. Wait. Wait wait wait. Back up a minute here.]

Hold on, what do you mean "knows to get them balls or dolls"!? Does your world restrict what toys a child can play with based on whether they're a boy or a girl!?

[Titan Hell is a terrible place full of terrible things. But they did at least manage to get a couple of things right.]

[vrepit_no]

It's really for the parent's egos more than the child, unfortunately. They want to make sure people know if it's a boy or a girl at a glance. But it means the child gets less choice about what they play with and are exposed to at a young age.

There aren't laws restricting what they can play with, but society tends to think of certain items or occupations or concepts as more masculine or feminine, so it tends to influence what people give a child. Farm equipment, cars, military or police items, sports, and active toys are usually designated as masculine. Make-believe things like fake food, play houses, and costumes, plus things like dolls and books, horses, and professional dancing tend to be considered feminine.

It's idiotic, and we're working on breaking down that binary, but there are markets that don't want it broken because it helps them sell more products.

[bite_the_hand]

[There is a lot there, and quite honestly Eren could spend the next 15 minutes yelling about all of it. But there's a couple of things in there that reach such a new level of stupid that instead there's a long moment of stunned silence. Long enough that Shiro might wonder if Eren was going to respond at all. Until, finally, Eren continues in the most incredulous tone that's telepathically possible.]

...I think I heard you wrong. It sounded like people in your world think only men can be soldiers and only women should read books.

[vrepit_no]

Not entirely. But boys are considered naturally more active and militant, and girls are taught that they should be quiet and retiring. So it fits with the society perception that way.

In school everyone is taught how to read and encouraged to do so. By my time girls are welcomed into the military no problem, but it's still mostly assumed outside the military ranks that girls are more likely to be communications and computers and medicine rather than front line fighters, which is completely wrong of course.