Weren't girly skills issued along with the proper chromosomes?

I often think about the idea that people who are gender-queer or androgynous or in some other way have a non-standard gender presentation sometimes feel they are "impostors" or failures when they try to be very girly or very manly. I probably seem pretty girly to many androgynous or butch women with my long hair and my dark eye-liner, but I still often feel I'm a little girl playing "dress-up" when I present myself as particularly "girly". I especially feel this way when my hair gets out of my control and I can't make it do what I want to with it and see some other woman with smooth upswept hair, or when I think I've picked a flattering shade of lipstick/eyeshadow/what-have-you and then I see myself in the mirror and realize it doesn't really look that good on me.

Somehow, it's comforting to know that I'm not the only one who struggles with that sort of thing.

From this "Weddings, Marriages, and Musings" blog entry, Debbie says:

The big issue was that I decided at a very early age not to learn anything about being a "girl," and I've stuck to it stubbornly, and yet part of me believes that the skills were supposed to be issued with my chromosomes and I'm somehow a failure for not knowing what I'm doing.

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/body_impolitic/100895.html?mode=reply

What I've been cooking

-In the last few weeks, we tried a couple variations on make-your-own burritos. One night, we had refried beans, soy sausage and cheese in multi-grain tortillas. Generally, I think white Azteca brand tortillas are crap, but their multi-grain ones are surprisingly good. Another night, I made a 3-egg-and-cheese omelet, cut that in half, and slapped each half into a multi-grain tortilla along with refried beans and salsa.

-About a week ago, I made cheesecake brownies. You can get packaged mixes, but making it from scratch is really easy, too. Take a box of brownie mix and make it according to instructions, or make your favorite homemade brownie recipe to fit a 9X13 pan. Then, take an entire package of cream cheese (we used the reduced-fat neufchatel kind), add one egg and 1/4 c. of sugar and beat with a rotary beater until it resembles really fine-curd cottage cheese. Spoon evenly over the brownie mix that's already in a greased pan. Then take a knife and pull it through the pan several times to swirl the cheescake mixture through the brownies. Bake at the temperature and for as long as the normal brownie recipe calls for- voila!

-Earlier this week, I made homemade pizza. I have a recipe for a crust that's part white flour/part whole wheat, and I made it with homemade sauce, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh chopped basil.

-Later in the week, I had leftover pizza dough, and I made it into cheesy-garlic breadsticks. Not bad, but a little chewy. They were best dipped in a marinara sauce.

-The breadsticks were a side dish that went with a home-cooked pasta dish I made: whole wheat rotini with tomato sauce, mushrooms, broccoli, and sund-dried tomatoes.

-Today, I made mint-infused water. I ganked the idea from airsucker who ganked it from slashfood.com. Soooo nice on a warm day.
http://www.slashfood.com/2007/08/29/cool-down-with-mint-infused-water/

-Also today, made a variation on Taco Salad. Del Monte makes these low-fat/non-fat "Savory Sides," and I got a can of the Santa Fe Corn, which comes with beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, and spices. I combined half a can of this with some Boca Burger crumbles, heated it up, and ladled it over mixed greens. Topped it with shredded cheese, tortilla chips, and low-fat sour cream. Had a side of corn on the cob with butter, salt & black pepper.