I think it was a little bit of both. They were taught by their family and they wanted to belong to the other kids of their (religious) group, at least the majority of them.
How I wish this were true. My nephew is fourteen. He made a short play for English class with two friends. He dressed as a girl. He borrowed a dress, his sister did the make-up. He wears his blond hair shoulder long btw. He was shocked at the reaction he got. The tamer were something like: Why do you dress like a girl? He: It's for a play. They: Oh okay, otherwise I had to hit you. He: Why? They: If you were gay I had to hit you easy as pie.
He had many discussions with other students and teachers. The teachers were okay but the students not so much. He tried to explain the difference between attraction and how you behave. More often than he liked he got: Well if you act on it we'll beat the crap outta you.
Yes I know, but I still love to read your comments, greedy as I am. Thank you Jo Ann, without your nudge the whole 'Four Perspectives' might have stayed on my computer. *hug*
One word I really hate is 'zerstückeln'. (cut into pieces) Ha, it's shorter in German! Anyway, a psychologist could probably tell me why I avoid this word at all cost. It's 'zerteilen', much better, 'zerlegen', 'zerkleinern' I know so many synonyms...
The day we untangle all this I want a cherry pie to celebrate. And a strawberry cheese cake. We can make it! And I have some ideas whom to kill...as a matter of fact the list gets longer and longer.
My personal version of writer's block is when my English is off. That happened with my last anthology story. Everything just sounded wrong, tenses were off too. I refuse to write a story in German when it's meant to be written in English eventually. It only gets worse when I do that. Thank God for my editors. They got me on the right track again.