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That father sounds as uptight and defensive about their kid's gender as my parents were about mine. Even though I was clueless that such a thing as "Gender" existed, they often frowned on my even being normal for the times. While at the same time my siblings having no such restrictions.
For example, when I was growing up, longer hair was the "in" thing, even for guys. And my brother was allowed to be normal for the times. But I got beaten senseless by my father for having hair that was still shorter than my brother's, he claimed it made me look effeminate. And when I got gifts of hip & mod clothes from relatives, I wasn't allowed to keep them, he claimed they were dubious. And in the 80's, when earrings were totally kewl for everyone regardless of sex, he singled me out for terrible treatment ...
I never even got told the truth about me, but my parents overcompensated really bad. Luckly for me, I never bought into their standards, because I could see how illogical it all was. And maybe I'll forget how bad they made me feel, someday.
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