Kid: Mom, what does emasculate mean?

Me: It means to say or do something to a man that makes him less masculine.

Kid: So can you defeminate someone?

Me: No. No matter what happens, I will always be a woman. But for men there is this silly idea that you can take their manhood away through insults. There is also a word effeminate, that is used to describe a boy who isn’t masculine enough. Kinda sucks for you and it’s really stupid that the worst insult you can say to a boy is that he’s a girl.

Kid: That’s dumb.

Me: Yep. But you know, we don’t think there is really any difference between masculine and feminine. Girls can be strong and boys can be sweet. They are both just made up descriptions.

(Why is it that it is so easy for a 12 year old to understand these things, but 30 year old men still think I am going to sympathize because someone called them girly? Seriously, being compared to half the population of the world is not so bad. It’s not like someone called you a Bush lover)