“What about the other boys, do they make an effort?”
“Some of ’em do, some of ’em don’t and some of ’em, like Robert don’t have a choice.”
“Is he the one with the bob?” Carol asked.
“Yeah… Rob the bob.” Peter replied. “Some of the first years have bunches or plaits and some of ’em have to wear girl’s clothes even when they’re not at school.” he claimed.
“You all do don’t you?” Carol quizzed. “At least so far as your undies go.”
Peter explained that the underwear thing is more of a recommendation than a rule and plenty of boys don’t have to wear them outside of school. “I guess some parents are less enthusiastic about EP than others.”
“And yours are?”
“Well my Mum is… Dad’s not quite so ‘taken’ with it but tends to side with Mum so…” Peter replied. “What I don’t understand is why treating us like girls is supposedly so good for us.”
“Well… everyone knows that girls are better than boys.” Carol shrugged before mischievously grinning. “We can do anything and boy can do, and on top of that… we get better grades, pass more exams, we’re less likely to get in to fights, less likely to turn to crime…” she paused before challenging Peter to look at the statistics of he doesn’t believe her. “Plus we can wear anything a boy can wear, we can be girlie or tom-boy depending on our mood, glamorous, grungy, plain, pretty, punky… we can do anything!”
“Yeah I get it.” Peter limply replied. “Girl power.” he groaned whilst doing a half-assed V sign.
“Yeah but… it’s not about ‘girl’ power these days… we’ve proved time after time that we’re just as good as the boys.” she claimed. Peter cited male vs female athletes as an example where males are clearly better than the females. Carol accepted his point, but countered it. “Yeah males are bigger and faster and stronger… but that doesn’t mean that women can’t run or jump or lift weights.” she said. “These days we can be astronauts, soldiers, firemen, builders, plumbers. We’ve broken free from our traditional gender roles and I reckon EP is to help the boys break free from theirs.” she claimed. “The best thing a boy can do these days is be more like a girl!”
“At Butterworth High we don’t have much choice.” Peter glumly retorted.
“I think that’s the point.” Carol suggests. “Castleview Primary’s becoming EP.” she added.
“Yeah Mark said.” Peter replied. “His little brother’s not too happy about it.”
“I’m sure he’ll get used to it… just like you have.” Carol supposed.
Peter didn’t reply. Instinctively he wanted to deny getting used to it but in all honesty, he can’t. He may not like it but he has got used to it. “Yeah I guess.” he eventually replied. “Still not easy though.” he sighed.
“Yeah I get that.” Carol agreed. “But EP schools are outperforming ‘normal’ coed schools in the league tables.” she said. “…and petticoatees are more likely to go to university and get a good degree than non-petticoated boys…”
“How do you know all this?”
“CyberCyclopedia.” she replied. “There’s over a hundred EP high schools in England and Wales and the number is growing every year.” she informed him.
“What about junior schools?”
“Not sure, but I guess they’re seeing a similar trend.”