Confronting notions

Something that has always caught my attention is any male with nice handwriting. By nice, I mean just plain beautiful script that looks almost unreal because it is so perfect. You end up concentrating on the formation of letters as opposed to what the combined letters mean.

A lot of this intrigue stems from my stereotypes of males. I almost expect a male to have poor handwriting that can only be classified as, “chicken scratch.” The reason for this is mostly a social one in which males are not pushed to master the art of handwriting as they once were in say, Ancient days (e.g., scribes). Instead, males’ handwriting quality is overlooked unlike with females. Speculatory, yes. But there are subtle cues in society on how males and females should be which we are bombarded with since day one. Hence, it does not surprise me when a female has gorgeous handwriting, but it shocks me when a male does.

Moreover, I find that I rarely write anything by hand these days besides notes to myself. Not using my penmanship has definitely caused the quality to decrease significantly. It is one of those “use it or lose it” situations. But really, handwriting may be a moot notion in the future with the way technology and electronics are progressing. Both males and females might end up having shitty handwriting since it will be a lost “art.” Instead of learning how to write in the first grade, you would learn how to type. Let that percolate in your mind as it has in mine.