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Princess Boy

Dr. Cheese

Dr. Cheese

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2004
57,298
120,460
Metro St. Louis
#1
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I saw this today. I don't care if the kid does like dresses, I think his Mom is doing him no favors letting him wear dresses everywhere. She needs to teach her son how to function in the world. When he becomes an adult, and can handle his decisions, it would one thing if he wants to cross dress. I think as a child, he should at least learn how to function in traditional gender roles even if he grows to reject them.
 
#4
Dr. Cheese said:
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I saw this today. I don't care if the kid does like dresses, I think his Mom is doing him no favors letting him wear dresses everywhere. She needs to teach her son how to function in the world. When he becomes an adult, and can handle his decisions, it would one thing if he wants to cross dress. I think as a child, he should at least learn how to function in traditional gender roles even if he grows to reject them.
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Agreed 100%. I wonder how much the kid truly likes dresses vs. how much fun mommy has in dressing him up like a little girl.
 
#7
Ray Salamon said:
And who gets to decide what this function is, exactly? Based on what?
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We as a culture decide. Seriously, I think a parent should give child the skills needed to thrive. Letting him wear dresses everywhere is setting him up for hardship. Once again, if he comes to that position as an adolescent or an adult, at least he will know what he is getting into.
 
#8
Dr. Cheese said:
Link Removed

I saw this today. I don't care if the kid does like dresses, I think his Mom is doing him no favors letting him wear dresses everywhere. She needs to teach her son how to function in the world. When he becomes an adult, and can handle his decisions, it would one thing if he wants to cross dress. I think as a child, he should at least learn how to function in traditional gender roles even if he grows to reject them.
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My little brother used to do the same exact thing. He insisted upon wearing dresses and was always trying to get into my moms' make-up and such. My mom forced him to stop wearing them and told him it was wrong.
I feel that what my mom did was wrong. My little brother became rather withdrawn from his friends and family alike and still tries to steal my little sisters make-up from time to time.
He's 13 and has aspergers. It was before he was diagnosed and was his way of dealing with it, imo. I don't think there's anything wrong with a child wearing whatever they like at home, but I do think that out in public if he wants to wear pink shoes or a bracelet or whatever then that's fine, but just as you wouldn't let your little girl go out every single day in a princess outfit, I don't think it's appropriate for a little boy to, either.
My 2 cents on this.
 
#10
HEIST said:
The mother is teaching her kid to be who he is. SOMETHING that many people learn way too late in life. To learn that it is okay. He's not out hurting anybody.
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Besides himself when he turns 7, and the kids beat the snot out of him.

For a different look try this; If you decided to go to grade school everyday in a bikini, because it was who you were, would your mom let you?
 
#12
If other kids beats him down about it and he decides to change what he's doing, he will. Let ihm make that call.

Similarly, in the news there was this girl who brought a Star Wars water bottle to school because she loved Star Wars. Boys told her that she couldn't do that because she was a girl and made fun of her to the point that she decides that it's safer to bring a 'girly' water bottle. It took her mom and a lot of female Star Wars fans to restore her confidence to bring that water bottle to school since it is the one she enjoyed.
 
#13
HEIST said:
The mother is teaching her kid to be who he is. SOMETHING that many people learn way too late in life. To learn that it is okay. He's not out hurting anybody.
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I'm with Heist on this one.
While a parent SHOULD guide their child, I think it's very wrong to suppress their creativity. He'll probably grow out of it, anyway.. and if he is picked on for it I don't think he's the one who has the problem but the children who've been taught it's okay to pick on someone who is different.
 
#14
This isn't a lifetime special. The kid is the one losing here. He will be seriously traumatized by what kids are going to do to him.

You think that he can wear a dress to school one day, get beat up, decide it's not worth it and wear regular clothes, and all the kids at school will stop picking on him and forget about it?
 
#15
Ah geeze, ok so here’s the deal people. If your child wants to express them selves under the opposite gender fine, let them,
don’t discourage it and don’t encourage it,
let it go.
If it continues for a wile and you feel concerned, take your child to a physiologist that specializes in gender related issues.
It’s hard to tell at that young of an age but it is possible that this child could have some level of gender identity disorder going on and could be potentially harmed by the enforcement of a specific gender role.
 
#16
steamthief said:
Agreed 100%. I wonder how much the kid truly likes dresses vs. how much fun mommy has in dressing him up like a little girl.
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Floyd Eye said:
So you advocate allowing children to act on their impulses rather than attempting to guide them?
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If you watch the clip, you'll see that she didn't let him wear dresses at first. It wasn't until he wanted to dress up for Halloween and his brother asked the mother to just let him be happy that she relented.

I haven't fully made up my mind on this, but it's not like the mother orchestrated this or is a complete doormat.
 
#17
HEIST said:
I disagree with you Dr. Cheese.

What next, everyone should act their race?

Who is to say that kid has to fit into the discriminating characteristics of a gender (which is a 'standard' that soceity made up that varies culture to culture)?
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I do believe clothing is choice, not a genetic imprint. As I have said before, if he chooses to dress that way after he is old enough to understand the significance of choices, cool. Putting a child in clothing that fits traditional gender roles at least lts him learn cultural norms and expectations.

I guess I feel this is like improvisation: know the rules before you break them.
 
#18
Seriously, people have a problem with this?? My son sometimes likes to wear hand-me-downs from his big sister - girl's flip-flops (pink with flowers), "girl"-coloured shirts (pink, yellow), etc. I've never made a big deal out of this with him, and neither has anyone else.

Girls do this *all the time* with "boy's" clothing, and nobody thinks twice about it. There was a time in N. America when most women didn't wear jeans, for example (and of course, in other times and places, lower-body garments with legs were appropriate *only* for women).


Also, please remember one of the cardinal rules of parenting: the best way to get a kid to do something you don't like is to insist that they don't do it.
 
#19
For what it's worth, my big sister used to dress me up, and she even did my nails. It was just around the house, and I never had any confusion or "issues." I even played with her Barbie (even as a five year old, I loved Barbie's rack!:D)

I think my biggest holdevere from that period, other than an enhanced appreciation for big racks and buns, is my tendency to always keep a finger nail file on a Swiss Army knife or clippers because I really love neat nails.:)
 
#20
For the record it’s my opinion that I could have had been beaten by my peers all through out my schooling as a child and been far less traumatized then I am today from having my parents tell me that who I was, was wrong.
Hell I should know as I still got the crap beat out of me for trying to be something I was not.
 

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