Another reason why America is going to hell...

[wa3zrm]

What’s So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?

The night before Susan and Rob allowed their son to go to preschool in a dress, they sent an e-mail to parents of his classmates. Alex, they wrote, “has been gender-fluid for as long as we can remember, and at the moment he is equally passionate about and identified with soccer players and princesses, superheroes and ballerinas (not to mention lava and unicorns, dinosaurs and glitter rainbows).” They explained that Alex had recently become inconsolable about his parents’ ban on wearing dresses beyond dress-up time. After consulting their pediatrician, a psychologist and parents of other gender-nonconforming children, they concluded that “the important thing was to teach him not to be ashamed of who he feels he is.” Thus, the purple-pink-and-yellow-striped dress he would be wearing that next morning. For good measure, their e-mail included a link to information on gender-variant children.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...

[Mdisch]

Aw what a sweet little story :-)

[WickedKitchen]

Wow. Interesting article. I have two girls so I can clearly say I'm not certain how i'd personally react. For everything my kids have through and wore and behaved I've always taken the road of support and teaching them how to deal with what others might think, say, or do to them. I'm trying to ingrain in them the fact that they cannot control what others think, say or do but they can and must control how they react to it and how they choose to deal with it. They also are developing the ability to control how they let it effect them. It crushed me to hear that my older one got picked on for being smart. It made her pull back a little in being boisterous in class and on the playground but she's come out of that a bit since, now that she's learning how to get the desired result from her adversaries. I guess that might be different than gender uncertainty but the concept is similar.

One thing is for sure, they had better teach this boy how to fight...might come in handy some day. I'm not advocating violence here though, rather being prepared to handle adversity. I am just coming into the age where standing up for yourself might be necessary where my girls are heading in to first and third grade. They know that the teacher and adult monitors must be notified if someone is making them uncomfortable. They also know that once it gets physical and they get pushed or hit they are confident they know exactly where to hit a boy to make him go down with one shot.

I think it's cool that parents today have to deal with these sorts of things. I remember when there were non-conforming kids around when I was younger (less so gay but non-conforming nonetheless) my dad was pretty terrible about it and would make negative comments to me. I didn't join him in the ridicule but didn't defend the other kid either. I just stayed away until I got into 7th grade and made friends with some of the weird kids. I got an earring in high school, two actually, I was on the cheerleading team but did it as a vehicle for touching and being around as many women as possible. (I think that was the best thing I did in my teens but that's a whole other story) My dad would call me "fagg" around the house and he made me take the earrings out when we went anywhere. My best friend in HS came out of the closet in later years but I didn't even consider the fact that he might be gay while we were in HS. I was in the band too and the band was loaded with talented weirdos. The thing that makes my cheerleading example valid is that both of my parents were teachers in the same high school that I went to. They never let me know what other teachers might have said to them and to this day I have never asked. Now after reading this article I'm going to ask my mom out of curiosity. It took until the middle of the year to even have conversations with other male athletes about it but it wasn't as negative as one might expect. Sure it helped that I excelled in track&field throwing events, blew everyone away with the saxophone at talent shows and such, and was among the biggest and strongest in the school. They thought it was strange but I felt respected anyhow and I guess that's all that matters.

[lxskllr]

I think the reason America's going to hell is the erosion of rights, the growing police state, and people who don't mind their own business. A boy wearing a dress isn't on the radar.

[Ainkor]

I think the reason America's going to hell is the erosion of rights, the growing police state, and people who don't mind their own business. A boy wearing a dress isn't on the radar.

Word.

[Twizzler]

I think the reason America's going to hell is the erosion of rights, the growing police state, and people who don't mind their own business. A boy wearing a dress isn't on the radar.

I was thinking of how to best respond to this article and then I read what you wrote...Well said!

Gender is on a continuum, it is not binary. Sex is what one is born with while gender is more of a construct. Yes, often one's gender and sex are congruent, but who says it has to be? I agree with lxskllr, out of all the things to worry about, who cares if a boy is in a dress.

[Crow]

I agree with lxskllr, out of all the things to worry about, who cares if a boy is in a dress.

I don't. Sure, it's out of the ordinary, but it doesn't bother me one bit.

Let your freak flag fly!

[Skell18]

I don't. Sure, it's out of the ordinary, but it doesn't bother me one bit.

Let your freak flag fly!

Amen brother!