Support of son's love of all things girly spawns book, and issue turns into a big debate over gender roles
Chicago Sun Times
November 4, 2010
BY LEANNE ITALIE
A little boy in a bright red dress and his mom's picture book about acceptance are front and center in a biting debate over a question well beyond his years: Are society's gender roles so rigid that a male child can't have fun in a tutu?
Cheryl Kilodavis self-published My Princess Boy over the summer about the sometimes cruel reaction 5-year-old Dyson faces when he wears sparkly frocks, twirly skirts and jewelry. She shared it with his school and hopes it will be used as a tool for teachers, day care centers, summer camps and after-school programs to address bullying and promote tolerance.
Full Article (http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/easy/2858662,ESY-News-EasyPBoy04.article)
Quotesaid Alajauan Adams, 27, a youth coordinator for a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. "I'm not here to judge if it's right or wrong for him to be an outcast, but the reality is he's going to be and you're not protecting him from it."
Speaking as someone who was in the same position as this child, but unable to express it for fear of another beating, I can say that he will be an outcast in any case.
I dearly wish there were an easir way. But there isn't. Society needs to change and accept people. Every journey starts with a step and thos child, along with many others, are taking that step.
Shame this youth coordnator doesn't have the courage of that small child. But then he has a fancy title.
This is an audio response to the video of Dyson Kilodavis My Little Princess Boy.
It's about 14 mins long but you can forward to about 6:15. This guy makes some interesting observations.
I really like to comment on them, well, rebuff them. But listen to it first.
5 Year Old "Princess Boy" is a Cross Dresser - PART TWO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF5070MmRJY#)
The older I get, the less I understand the hysteria resulting from cross gender expression.
I don't understand why so many people associate kids dressing as they wish as a sign of homosexuality or anything besides kids being kids. We aren't born with an innate sense of gender. It's something that is instilled in us by society.
When I have kids they can dress however they damn well please.
In reading and listening to the various claims toward opposition of self expression I've noticed there seems to be a common theme. Namely, the fear of moving forward and praising the virtue of the past.
We all know about those who use religion of course. Theirs is a weak case, made all the weaker because they don't tolerate discussion.
The audio above is a similar theme, though propounding a traditional society where women sought out strong men to give them orgasism and strong men were nobel and intelegent, passing down calm wisdom to their kids. His claims are based upon his notion that the rise of the empowered woman has effectively emasculated men. This has destroyed the father figure role so young boys are looking to their mothers and seeking to dress like them.
Hell, I had an orgasism listening to that guy. >:-)
But while it would probably be wonderful for all of us to have had a father of that ilk, the reality is, most people can't be like that. My father, for example, would model himself on whichever Hollywood nobel he had most recently seen, Gregory Peck, John Wayne and so on. But like the majority of men in his position, he never quite found the self acceptance he was seeking.
The intersting point about the audio is that it presents possibilities that seem, on the face of it, feasable. Admittedly, in part at least, because the speaker does come across as being very aimable and sober.
But people are not carved out of the same rock. They are no all carved to the same pattern. We are all, each of us, so very different.