News and Events => Opinions & Editorials => Topic started by: Shana A on January 26, 2012, 09:00:57 AM Return to Full Version
Title: Look at Him, He's Sandra Dee: What House of Lies' Roscoe Can Teach Us About Gend
Post by: Shana A on January 26, 2012, 09:00:57 AM
Post by: Shana A on January 26, 2012, 09:00:57 AM
Diane Ehrensaft, Ph.D.
Developmental and clinical psychologist; mental health director, Child and Adolescent Gender Center
Look at Him, He's Sandra Dee: What House of Lies' Roscoe Can Teach Us About Gender-Nonconforming Children
Posted: 01/25/2012 5:33 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-ehrensaft-phd/house-of-lies-roscoe_b_1232036.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-ehrensaft-phd/house-of-lies-roscoe_b_1232036.html)
On Jan. 8, 2012, in a television series seemingly about corporate greed and rampant sexuality -- Showtime's new series House of Lies, starring Don Cheadle -- a very unconventional child character made his debut on American television: Marty Kaan, the main character in House of Lies, stalwartly goes to bat for his gender-nonconforming, 12-year-old son Roscoe. Roscoe wears skirts and drapes himself in shimmery scarves. He has a major goal: to get picked for the part of Sandy in his school's production of Grease. And he gets the part, until a mother complains -- it's a girl's part, after all. Marty is befuddled by his son's gender transgressions, but Marty's own wise father, a retired mental health professional, offers his son sound counsel: just let Roscoe be who he is.
Marty and Roscoe are only fictional characters. But they mirror the challenges that are facing real families and real classrooms all around the country and beyond. As author of Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children, and as a psychologist who spends much of my time working with children who just don't fit inside neat, binary gender boxes, I applaud Showtime and the writers of House of Lies for bringing a new perspective on children's gender in a compelling and sympathetic way, and one that hopefully opens up the question: who should get to be Sandra Dee?
Developmental and clinical psychologist; mental health director, Child and Adolescent Gender Center
Look at Him, He's Sandra Dee: What House of Lies' Roscoe Can Teach Us About Gender-Nonconforming Children
Posted: 01/25/2012 5:33 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-ehrensaft-phd/house-of-lies-roscoe_b_1232036.html (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-ehrensaft-phd/house-of-lies-roscoe_b_1232036.html)
On Jan. 8, 2012, in a television series seemingly about corporate greed and rampant sexuality -- Showtime's new series House of Lies, starring Don Cheadle -- a very unconventional child character made his debut on American television: Marty Kaan, the main character in House of Lies, stalwartly goes to bat for his gender-nonconforming, 12-year-old son Roscoe. Roscoe wears skirts and drapes himself in shimmery scarves. He has a major goal: to get picked for the part of Sandy in his school's production of Grease. And he gets the part, until a mother complains -- it's a girl's part, after all. Marty is befuddled by his son's gender transgressions, but Marty's own wise father, a retired mental health professional, offers his son sound counsel: just let Roscoe be who he is.
Marty and Roscoe are only fictional characters. But they mirror the challenges that are facing real families and real classrooms all around the country and beyond. As author of Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children, and as a psychologist who spends much of my time working with children who just don't fit inside neat, binary gender boxes, I applaud Showtime and the writers of House of Lies for bringing a new perspective on children's gender in a compelling and sympathetic way, and one that hopefully opens up the question: who should get to be Sandra Dee?