My friend and I had a conversation about gender neutrality. She works in fashion and was pretty upset about one company’s recent Fashion Week gimmick, where both male and female models walked the runway in the same men’s and women’s clothes. The fashion business is pretty cutthroat so you need something to distinguish yourself and I think as far as gimmicks go, that was a pretty good one. As a social or political statement- maybe not so great. And Holly was pretty upset by the idea of making men and women the same.   The fact is that men and women are not the same. Men are men and women are women and that’s more than okay! Let’s embrace who we are. We should be careful not to steer kids into any stereotypes, but if a girl likes to play with dolls and a boy likes to play with trucks, let them! Just like we should also allow girls to play with trucks and boys to play with dolls. I think it’s healthy for all kids to play with all toys because that’s how they learn about the world and exercise their imaginations.  Hey, ladies- if you like to wear heels and makeup, do it, and enjoy it! Don’t feel guilty about being feminine- it doesn’t make you weak or politically backwards. And guess what: you can like cars and makeup! So go for what you like and do what makes you feel like you. It would be nice to live in a world one day where women are respected and paid as much as men, but I don’t think wearing pink is the thing that’s preventing that from happening, and anyway, that’s a whole other topic. Gender neutrality is a big buzzword today and it has it’s place, but I think there is still reason to celebrate the differences between genders. I’m proud to be a strong woman who wears heels and makeup and I’m not going to apologize for that!