I believe this society to be <br />deeply keen to enforce <br />distinctions of gender <br />fearful of course <br />of cheerful androgyny. <br />It starts with the naming of progeny. <br />Apart from a few anomalous instances <br />there are separate names for either sex: <br />"If it's a boy we'll call him Tex <br />and if it's a girl, Octavia." <br />And the con <br />goes on, <br />from codes of dress and behaviour <br />down to the smallest print of existence. <br />I was struck by all this <br />after a lucky purchase in a high-street chemist; <br />asking to be supplied with a flannel <br />I was politely directed to a little sub-section entitled <br />MEN'S FACECLOTHS.<br /><br />John Hegley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-flannel/
