Boys Shouldn't Be Allowed

Anonymous

Boys Shouldn't Be Allowed

So, it all started with a picture post to my family's photo blog by my brother-in-law. Among the many pictures of my nephew who is a year and a half, there was one new photo of him in the batch wearing a princess costume playing during costume time where he attends school in Arizona. When my parents saw it on the blog, they freaked out. My mom texted me outraged that the school would dare "confuse" my nephew by apparently in her words, "forcing him" to wear a dress.

I assure you, the school did not force my nephew to do anything. According to my brother in law, there were costumes in a costume box, the kids in class picked whatever, and that was that. As just about any parent knows, once your kid has clothes on, trying to take them off, or let alone force them into something else, is going to cause a tantrum. The school made no big deals of it, didn't try to tell him these were "girl clothes," just let the kids play because that's what kids do. They don't know or think about gender roles. Obviously my sister and brother-in-law weren't in the least concerned, and neither am I. My parents however, different story. They think this is, and I'm quoting, "how it all gets started," and "this is gender confusion," and "soon he'll want to play with dolls and put blush on." This is completely ignoring the fact that where he lives, all his toys are so called masculine toys, there are no dresses in his closet, he's not tried any on at home...the kid plays in the dirt and with trucks because he's a toddler. My sister isn't like going and buying him dresses.

Boys Shouldn't Be Allowed

I begged my parents not to text my sister with these feelings, and my mom who had already texted all her relatives in the tri-state area with her fury, relented and didn't text my sister, but before I could even get to my dad, he'd already sent this scathing text about it. My sister responded back that she literally hoped to never have this conversation again about her son, because he's not even 2 yet, can't remember what he had for breakfast, let alone what costume he had on at school. She and I both feel, the school did nothing wrong, she had no problems with it, neither do I.

I pointed out to my mom that I was literally THE biggest Tom Boy as a kid. I loved playing in the dirt with my other brothers, and refused to do anything girly, would always dress up in so called boy clothes, and yet, I'm not a lesbian and I'm not trans because despite what crazy people seem to think, clothes don't make you gay or trans! And then at the end of the day, if in 10, 15 years, my nephew does some how come out, what are his grandparents going to do...disown him...blame a school for "making him gay," which isn't a thing?

Boys Shouldn't Be Allowed

This is so much hype and hysteria over nothing. It's like really, a) clothes don't make you gay or trans and b)what do you remember when you were one and a half years old? Nothing. The answer is nothing. And again, the school did not actually put the costume on him. Kids that young don't even know anything about gender roles or what they are "supposed to wear" and do as boys and girls. I mean, what about the other girls in the class who were wearing construction costumes and baseball costumes...my parents didn't say a word about them and those things are seen as traditionally more masculine which proves that they are just jobs and clothes and anybody can wear and do them.

I think we've all just got to relax and stop making mountains out of mole hills and stop treating being gay or trans like some sort of disease that one can catch simply by doing arbitrary things like wearing clothes or a different haircut or doing certain activities that don't correlate to some stupid list of what is a girl and what is a boy and what they apparently should be doing.

Boys Shouldn't Be Allowed
10 Opinion