It seems the 5 year old at the center of the controversy had wanted to dress as Daphne from "Scooby Doo" for Halloween and some of the other moms took offense. I'll let you read to story yourself to learn the other details. Aside from the silliness of the adults, the reader comments on the bottom really stand out as an example of taking things too far. The debate has quickly evolved into an issue of gender roles and equal rights.
What I wonder is why anyone thinks this has anything to do with the little boy's sexual identity? We have no idea what influenced his choice, but to assume it is because he wants to be a girl is a pretty big leap. If he had seen an episode of Sponge Bob that really spoke to him in which Patrick saved Sponge Bob and he dressed as a purple/pink starfish, should we assume he wished to be a invertebrate sea creature? Or even worse, since Patrick is not the title character, that the boy has self-esteem issues? Does a 4 year old wanting to dress as a Martian mean he has difficulty with identifying as a member of the human race? If a girl dresses as a vampire, should we worry she secretly harbors a desire to abandon her soul and join the undead?
My favorite Halloween costume has been, and continues to be "The Guy From CrimeStoppers" (A Man in his mid-40's of no fixed addressed wanted for questioning in relation to a series of break ins). Wearing a hoody and not shaving to achieve the affect has not yet lead to a life of crime.
We can never know what spark's a particular interest in a Halloween costume, but they are never seminal moment's in young person's life. I have been an ape, cowboy, spaceman, Dracula, pumpkin, hockey player and even a girl in my Halloween career, and have never pursued any of those identities past the night in question.
To paraphrase Sigmund Freud: Sometimes a Daphne costume is just a Daphne costume.
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7 comments:
You can bet your sweet ass (no pun intended) that I'm not gay, but as a kid I did use my sister's dress and makeup to go as a hag. It's a fucking costume, not a gender statement for Christ’s sake. Adults can screw up innocent children’s play and games with their own screwed up ideas.
Parents are usually the worst. I'm quite sure however that her son will definitely not appreciate this when he's 15, he may never get laid now.
Not to mention that she'll either be on Oprah or have DFACS called on her for all the publicity that it brought her. That post had 41k comments.
It makes me sad that people get themselves so up in arms about things like this. Let a kid be a kid!
My sister was batman and she didn't want to be a boy. Just batman. I was Mr. Rogers one year. neither of us are gay or want to be the opposite sex.
No kid would bug this child.
Only the damn grown ups do the bullying here. Chill out.
And if he is gay - who gives a rats ass? he's not harming anyone!!
I know! I made a similar comment on a blog where the person thought it was some sort of sign. Maybe it's the complete opposite and the kid thinks that Daphne is hot like so many other dudes, so he thought it would be a cool costume. Sheesh.
The worst thing about all of this is that honestly - that kid's costume was so much cooler than any shit I had when I was a kid at Halloween was those plastic face caps with the little plastic smocks. I think I was actually Velma one year. I sounded like Darth Vader - within two minutes I would be done within the stupid mask and it would be on a my head as a visor. That kid shouldn't have scars from that Daphne costume - it was way cooler than anything I ever got to wear.
Great comments everyone. And this is the first time I've ever heard of a kid dressing up like Mister Rogers. Maybe the postman Mr. McFeely, but never Mister Rogers.
Hey, are there any slutty Lady Aberlin costumes?
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