Okay, before I start this, I want to preface it by saying that I do believe that marriage is meant to be between a man and a woman and I do believe that we are born to be the gender God made us to be. However, this being said, I do think that there is an overarching and overwhelming issue with gender stereotypes and masculinity versus femininity in our world today. Too many people have this idea built up in their heads that there is an ideal standard for manliness and womanliness, and if you stray outside of these parameters of testosterone and estrogen, then you are automatically abnormal. This is not true!

People will generalize these "abnormal" people by either labeling them homosexual or by calling them members of the opposite gender as an insult. Why is this some people's automatic response? This is part of the cause for a lot of insecurity and misunderstanding of identity for these "abnormally" normal people. There are many different ways that this is manifested, but for now, I am going to focus on the very base God-given appearance and physicality that is often judged or mocked relentlessly.

For instance, there are people who are born to look a certain way. There are obvious distinctions of makes a man a man and a woman a woman, but when it comes to the rest of their appearance, sometimes the waters can be muddied. Each person is beautiful in their own sense, but we have come to view certain lines or curves and physical aspects as masculine or feminine. Men are sharp and rugged with "manly" features that epitomize strength and provision, whereas women are soft, gentle and curvy in their features to balance out the harsher and stronger features of men. This is the ideal standard to which so many people hold their own gender. And heaven forbid, they break the mold! What category do we fit them into then? We are seriously causing an identity crisis in the hearts and minds of young people when we label them for not fitting into our ideal mold.

People should take the features that God has given them and celebrate them without having to worry about people judging them or mocking them. Everyone is created to look different. We are all unique masterpieces of God. Not every girl is going to look exactly the same and neither are men all going to look the same. We are all supposed to be the best we can be as God made us, and that doesn't look the same for everyone. There wasn't one of us that God made that was a blunder or a mishap. God didn't say, "Oops, that one wasn't girly enough or manly enough, better try again."

So when it comes to physical features, stop judging people based on your standard of what you think the ideal appearance should be for their gender. God made them to look that way. If a girl has more boyish looking features, that doesn't make her any less womanly. If a guy has more feminine features, that doesn't make him any less of a man. Don't call her a dike or a boy or a lesbian, and don't call him a little girl or gay just because they don't measure up to your ideal standards. She may have never even thought of herself as being different until you made that comment. The thought of "Am I possibly gay?" may have never even crossed his mind until your comment. They may have never questioned whether they were supposed to be the gender that God made them to be until your off-hand comment preyed on any insecurity that may have been there and would now continue to resonate and echo throughout the halls of their hearts and minds. People can't help it if God made them to look a certain way, and you questioning their appearance and mocking it is directed not toward something they couldn't control, but something that God in his sovereignty did. You can inspire confidence or insecurity based on how you treat and talk about people. Words are powerful. Watch yours.