To Males: The "Sissy" Label

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Did your peers ever think you were a "sissy" when you were in grade school or high school?

In general demeaner or appearance, NO WAY! I WAS/AM a pacifist and not into sports though. BTW Just to clarify. Nobody called me a sissy.

Last edited by 2ukenkerl on 20 May 2008, 11:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

No, just real weird

No, "sissy" wasn't among the many words people called me.

I do remember being called a poo poo head in grade 1

Ballet Dancer - but I think that was because of my tendency to flap my arms and spin but also a sissy and a million other derogatory names.

Last edited by iceb on 21 May 2008, 6:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

My peers never called me that, to the best of my recollection. Though my dad was known to throw it at me on occasion.

I seem to remember the same things.

There was a potential situation with regard to gym class, if you we're afraid to undress in front of your peers; I've seen young adolescent boys in the public swimming pool locker rooms today, and many undress under a towel. If you made that mistake in gym class (east coast, 1950's), someone would be sure to grab away your towel and play "keep-away" and you'd be sure to hear "Sissy Boy!" (and so would everyone else in the locker room).

I recall expressing undressing fears to my mom, and she said something to the effect of "you're no different than any other boys, don't be silly, get over it". Fortunately for me, I took her advice and "got over it", so I was never the target of that particular game.

The same situation had the potential to arise (children can be cruel to each other) with regard to swimwear styles; brief-trunks were relatively popular then (they were more conservatively waist-ed than todays competition swimbriefs), especially with more athletic boys, and if you were either afraid to wear briefs, or in the situation I was in (mom was not liberated from this peculiarly protestant puritan contradiction and obsession of the human body) where I wanted to be like my peers (my best friend was the son of a USAF Colonel, athletic, coincidentally of French ancestry, and wore "swimtrunks" as they were known then), I wasn't allowed to wear what I wanted because of her contradiction, so I was stuck in a potentially teasing situation, not to mention planting the seeds of obsession over the issue in me; fortunately, I didn't have too many peers who knew me around to give me grief via that particular game, and this tended to come only from a few of those kids who wore "trunks" .

That sort of game generally tended to disappear by the time one was around mid-teens, as I recall, anyway, and todays kids have turned the situation 180 degrees; all the kids today wear "boxer shorts", and even if a kid wanted to join a swimteam, he'd be afraid of his peer's teasing for wearing "Speedos", so he may avoid something he'd like to do, if it wasn't for his peers attitudes.

I remember that situation from grade school. Everybody undressed under a towel, and we'd all be grabbing each other's towels.

I was never called a sissy, but I sure as hell was one: I was a terrible coward, lousy at sports, refused to fight and hated getting wet or dirty.

nope, but my five brothers sure did not make any easier to me. unlike them, i was never into sports, i never watched football with them or share a healthy discussion about which football club is buying who.

looking back, its hard to always be teased by them, but hey, they family, and i know they loved me. of course, i manage to toughen myself up during my teenagers days,

Not really.

I only really got called a Freak.... and to be honest, I always wore that one like a badge of honour.

It DOES seem silly to be so modest but, I SWEAR! It is like we all have one brain or something. Yet ANOTHER reason I basically did NOTHING in P.E.! I don't wear boxers(OK at the time because I think most didn't), don't undress or shower in front of others, etc.... In fact, in my whole life, I only remember ONE time I EVER showered in front of anyone. That was when I was about 15. I got up late, they got up early, and it was a boarding school. When I say one time, I don't mean an appreciable span of time. I mean I turned the water on, had the shower, turned the water off, and that was the only time. ONE guy saw me.

As for speedos, or shaving my legs(People on the swim team did that)? FORGET IT! I also only fought about 13 times. I won THEM. My first school acted like **I** was the troublemaker even though I was passive, etc...

At one school I was. Basically, this school was place sports over all else and since I was male and neither interested in nor good at sports, I was called names like that and others. I was so glad when my parents finally got me out of there.

I was lousy at sports, and hated getting wet or dirty (still do). I didn't like to fight, but would only take so much sh** either.



I was the same way. Never showered in P.E. Wore my shorts under my jeans so I could just pull them off to change.

However, I was part of a 5 week summer camp for gifted kids called the Governor's Scholars Program between my junior and senior years, and got stuck in the crappy freshman dorm, that had no A.C. and community showers. I showered in it once with all the other guys, but it was so awkward I didn't do it again. As you can imagine, I probably smelled pretty rank lol. About once a week I would manage to get up in the middle of the night and shower when no one else was in there. Otherwise, I wore lots of deodorant.

I got some of that in school, in the lower grades. I also got beat up a few times because of it.

Learning to box allowed me to pretty much put a stop to it. Boxing is the sport I'm best at. I guess it is not surprising for an Aspie to be better at individual sports.

I was never good at team sports, but after I started weight training, I at least got stronger than the other people in my class. When I was a kid, people were suprised that I never cried after I fell, got in fights etc., so I wasn't called a sissy.