We ought to have a forum for gender theory - a topic that would be directly relevant to what we're all about here. Since there isn't one, I cast about for somewhere to post this discussion. I decided to put it under "poetry" because it involves a nursery rhyme. Well, this seemed like the closest match.
When I was a little child--back in the Precambrian--we were taught a nursery rhyme that went (to the best of my memory):
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all things nice
That's what little girls are made of.
What are little boys made of?
Snaps and snails and puppy dog tails
That's what little boys are made of.
This was in a book of nursery rhymes we had that was even older than I was. I don't know if this is still recited any more or if it went the way of Little Black Sambo (yes, I had that book too as a child).
This rhyme provides one more example of how I instinctively preferred femininity as a child. (The more I think back, the more instances of early childhood gender variance I recall.) I loved the sound of "sugar and spice and all things nice" and thought it should apply to me. Whereas I was supposed to be described by a list of items that didn't even make sense. I never found out what "snaps" was supposed to mean anyway. All I knew was, my whole life, I felt masculine gender attributes had nothing to do with me and could never understand why I was supposed to like them. Or maybe the rhyme is just plain dumb to begin with.
