Stilettos, Sissy Boys, and the Limits of "Gender-Neutral" Parenting Advice
Filed by: Paige Schilt
December 9, 2009 2:30 PM
http://www.bilerico.com/2009/12/stilettos_sissy_boys_and_the_limits_of_gender-neut.phpLast week, PBS Parents featured a blog titled "Gender Appropriate Toys." It begins promisingly enough with a critique of parents who enforce binary gender norms in their children's toys and activities. The author (Kristen of Supersisters) suggests that boys should be free to engage in nurturing and domestic activities as preparation for becoming well-rounded men. Next, she shifts into a discussion of childhood cross-dressing:
So why are we so concerned about our sons wearing our shoes? If wearing women's shoes as a small child causes any sort of issue when a boy gets older, nearly every man in the world would now be a cross-dresser.
As I read this, I tried not to get too hung up on what "any sort of issue" might cover or what she might mean by "cross-dresser." After all, the article was normalizing childhood cross-dressing. These are ideas that might be new to the readers of PBS Parents. Cut the lady some slack, I told myself.
Then I read the last line of the article.
