Previously, I'd commented about my unorthodox play with my G.I. Joe doll as a young boy--dressing him shirtless and in short shorts, and having him hang around in Barbie's dream car with my sister's Ken doll. I'd often wondered, given that and my other habits and predilections as a youngster, how my family didn't figure out very early that I was queer.
In that same vein, I recall that the very first 45rpm singles I ever bought included Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," ABBA's "Dancing Queen," and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
I'll never forget shaving all the hair off of one of my Barbie dolls. She was actually bi-sexual and dated an African American Ken too! I've always been into diversity. =)
The only truly stereotypical gay thing I ever did (or technically, did not, in this situation) was not play sports. I tried them all, but I never caught. Of course, that could also be attributed to my locale. Where I lived for the first six years I was always too young to play sports, and then we moved back to Mississippi so I was seven and first starting, while the rest of the team had been going at it since they were three.
I can't think of any other examples, though.
Stephen: My parents tried at first to have me do the sports thing. I was enrolled in tiny tots (pre-Little League) baseball and later, in elementary school, one day of wrestling. I was so completely disinterested in and horrible at the former and just horrible at the latter (not completely disinterested, as it was at least a sanctioned opportunity to roll around on a mat with another boy), that I wasn't urged or forced to continue. Piano, guitar and voice lessons soon came to fill the space that sports occupied for the other boys, though my parents drew the line there; ballet and tap were out of the question. To be fair, my parents really did a great job supporting my interests, intelligence and activities, when I was obviously very far outside their experience and expectations. I was really lucky in that regard; my rural Virginia mountain childhood could have been a heck of a lot tougher, otherwise.
Tre: I love hearing that I'm not the only one who initiated some drastic changes with their dolls.
I remember playing with my sister's doll, named Judy, whenever she wasn't around. I never knew Ken dolls existed back then, but had I known ... As for the music, well, the very first album I bought was KISS Live, so I guess that kind of "made up" for playing with Judy (in my parent's eyes). Why on earth, I bought KISS as my first album, I still don't know. I more than made up for it though ever since then.