This is totally normal! Some people become interested in having a special friend at an early age, others are not interested until they are well into being an adult.
One of the greatest things about being a human being is friendship. Having others around to share things with and have fun together makes life more interesting. Don't feel pressured into looking for a special friend just because it seems to be the 'in thing' to do. You could end up losing someone as a good friend and that would be sad, as good friends are hard to find.
Sometimes it can be easier for people to see girls doing “boy things” because we’re used to girls being “tom-boys” but it’s not as accepted for guys to do “girl things”. Hobbies and interests don’t belong to genders, and so it’s important for you to do whatever passion you have, no matter whether people think it’s meant for another gender. Do whatever makes you happy.
Sometimes people are judged by how they dress because of silly stereotypes. A stereotype is an overly simple belief about a particular group of people and is often negative. By stereotyping we assume that a person is, thinks, or acts like all members of a certain group. For example, a stereotype is that all girls like dressing up and wearing makeup and that all boys like sport. They make us ignore differences between individuals and think things about people that might not be true. They also make us believe that people should act in certain ways which can make us treat others badly because they don’t ‘fit’ a particular stereotype. So, we need to be really careful when we make assumptions about other people just because they are a girl, a boy, short, tall, skinny, overweight, living with a disability, have different cultural backgrounds to ourselves or any other factor.
Sometimes girls and boys can be stereotyped and treated differently by past expectations and gender norms. Some people have ideas about how girls and boys should act but this isn’t a “RIGHT” way to be a girl or boy, or a certain way to treat boys and girls. Everyone, no matter what gender, deserves to be treated with respect.
