How to Scare People on Halloween: If you are a boy, dress up like Elsa

[skin]

Kate Cohen, Slate
October 31, 2014

t is not easy to scare people on Halloween these days. In 2014, rivers of blood course through network television; serial killers have been downgraded from stomach-churning monsters to TV bad boys; and the public is bombarded with zombie movies, vampire novels, and CNN Ebola updates. A mask of The Scream just isn't going to cut it.

But there is one image that retains the power to terrify: A boy dressed as a girl.

Every year, about this time, the Internet buzzes with parental panic: My boy wants to be a princess—or Daphne from Scooby Doo or Wendy from Peter Pan—what should I do?  Would you let your son be Frozen's Elsa for Halloween? Care.com reports that 65 percent of people it surveyed (1,654 out of a total of 2,548) said "no" to letting a boy wear a princess costume.* Or, as a CaféMom commenter put it, "NO WAY AND HE WOULDN'T WANT TO ANYWAY."

I wish I could dismiss the horror-struck momosphere with sympathetic condescension—man, it must be hard to live in a red state—but I can't. My dining room table is a progressive enclave within a liberal bastion within the state of New York, and yet, it was there that my 5-year-old son's declaration that he wanted to be Wonder Woman for Halloween was met with the shocked gasps and nervous laughter of our dinner guests. No one spoke. And then a friend—trembling but determined, like the one kid in the horror movie brave enough to move toward the scary sound behind the door—ventured, "Wouldn't you rather be Spiderman?"

More: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2014/10/halloween_fright_boys_dressed_as_girls_are_still_really_scary.html

[Ms Grace]

I so wanted to be Daphne from Scooby Doo...!

[Devlyn]

It's a little hard to find because the original Nerdy Apple Bottom blog post is no longer up, but check it out.: http://momsmack.com/my-son-is-gay-nerdy-apple-bottom/

[suzifrommd]

Awful article. Talks about a kid crossdressing might be gay. The word transgender is not mentioned at all.

***Sigh***

A chance to educate about transgender - how if a kid is transgender, telling them not to wear a particular costume won't make them cisgender - lost because once more it is cisgender people telling our story.

[skin]

This isn't a story about a transgender kid though.  It is a story about the reaction to challenging gender norms.

[Shantel]

It's a little hard to find because the original Nerdy Apple Bottom blog post is no longer up, but check it out.: http://momsmack.com/my-son-is-gay-nerdy-apple-bottom/

Cute kid, I love his mom. The other women deserve a major www.smackdown!

[suzifrommd]

This isn't a story about a transgender kid though.  It is a story about the reaction to challenging gender norms.

True. But she takes the trouble to mention fear of the kid being gay (even though crossdressing seems to have little to do with sexual orientation) but not being transgender.

We don't know that the kid is not trans, right? A lot of us were interested in female superheroes. Bionic Woman and Wonder Woman were two of my favorite shows, even though I couldn't have told you why at the time.

[Vicky]

A happy post I got to make on my Face Book page:

Halloween dialog ---

Small princess costume wearer -- Trick or Treat!

Me-- I will give you a treat, but if I don't give it to you, what will your trick be?

SPCW -- I'll take my costume off and become a boy!!

Me -- Which do you really like being, a boy or a princess

Sound of mother in the background, kid gives mom "The LOOK"

SPCW -- I love being a princess!

Me -- That's wonderful you can do that!! <add one more treat>

Me -- To Mom: Thank you for letting your child do that, it is a sign that you are doing your job right here. Happy Halloween!!

(I was wearing a black long sleeve top and black slacks with my purple wig. Usual Halloween pale ivory foundation, black eyeshadow, super red lipstick) I passed completely!!

[Shantel]

A happy post I got to make on my Face Book page:

Wish I had been there with you to take it all in! I missed out on all the kids and had to hang onto my barking lunatic Cujo wannabe dog in another room while my SO went to the door. I heard some kid say "Trick or treat, smell your feet!" which made me laugh...