I started playing pokemon when i was around 10yrs old which is about 13 yrs ago! Time sure has flown! The reason i got into pokemon was because the school i was going to at the time had more boys than girls, class wasn't very big either
, and in my school pokemon was more a boys game than girls. However, me being the weirdo that i was (and still am :P ), i was fascinated by the idea of pokemon and even now i carry my 3ds practically everywhere with me (playing XY & ORAS)!
Being the only girl in class who actually liked playing the game (and not just knowing the name of it) was kinda harsh, boys would say I'm a girl and thus couldn't play with them and the girls would say that i was a tomboy (at the age where we believed that girls/guys had cooties :P ). Since i come from an asian country, and the school was kinda a more traditional one
, there were very strong gender norms. For a while i couldn't figure out why it was so wrong for me to like the games that the boys did and that kinda got me quite down. Then after meeting another girl, who goes to the same student care as me and liked pokemon as well, i realised that theres no reason for me to be upset! People decide what the norms are, and i don't have to care about what others say (of course me being 10 at the time means i registered it as a lot less impressive sounding than it is now -_-' in more of a I wanna play so I'm gonna play kinda way). If i want to play like the boys, then I'm gonna do it! No one should be able to dictate what i 'should' or 'shouldn't' be doing!
Now I'm in Uni and have made new friends, and among them is another female who loves pokemon as well! The 2 of us are always talking about the new happenings or how our progress is and our other friends always say we get too loud hahahaha! I'm glad that i started playing pokemon, its thought me that I shouldn't care about how others perceive me! Im actually hoping to get the mew so that i can give it to my uni friend that i mentioned, she's the only one of my friends who actually plays the game and I'm so glad that she puts up with me hahahahaha or i wouldn't have anyone to talk with anymore :P
Im also currently looking for friends for friend safari and secret bases so if you don't mind just drop me a PM!