primitives discuss parents who allow boys to grow their hair long like a girl's

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018168251

Oh my.

New campfire, just lit.

Baitball Blogger (3,560 posts)

Parents who allow their boy toddler's hair to grow like a girl's, do they have the right to get upset when strangers refer to the child as a she?

I mean, how are we suppose to know, especially in this day and age when it's perfectly okay for girls to dress up as boys? I'm sure they get gendered confused too.

The question is, who is in the more right? Does the parent have the right to be offended? Or is it appropriate for the stranger to feel like an oaf?

No responses yet, but this was franksolich's take on the issue back in September 2010:

I got twitted last night, about the length of my hair.

It's long, but it's not quite yet to the neck, which is when I usually get it cut.

I told neighbor that, well, most males my age have either thinning hair or no hair at all, whereas I have this lush luxuriant foliage. 

Most males my age have things I don't have, and so this is my particular vanity, something to show off.  God gave me at least one thing about which to flaunt.

I've always worn my hair long, but the reason I gave him is only the superficial reason, not the real one.

I was wearing my hair long even as a kid, when long hair on a boy was definitely not "cool."

My parents didn't like it, but at least tolerated it.

(By the way, I was never mistaken for a hippie; one's bearing and manner overrides superficial impressions.)

As many know, I was born absent ears, which one supposes makes one a freak.

As a kid, I developed this notion that it was better to have other kids stare and point, "Hey mom, look at that boy with long hair like a girl," rather than having them stare and point, "hey mom, that boy doesn't have ears."

In the first instance, the issue could be resolved by a dust-up of pre-adolescence fisticuffs, proving I was most definitely not a girl.

In the second instance, one had no defense.

I went through grade- and high-school with a girl who had been afflicted with some sort of muscular disorder, as an infant.  It had been mild, but severe enough that she was compelled to wear metal leg-braces on both legs until she was a teenager.

She confessed one time that as a small girl, she had always wanted to wear long dresses (or skirts), so as to hide the braces.  She had the same idea I did; that life would be considerably easier if other kids stared at her simply because she dressed "old-fashioned," rather than staring at her because she was crippled.

Her parents however were not nearly as tolerant as mine; short dresses and short skirts were "in" for little girls, and so it was short dresses and skirts she had to wear, exposing her infirmity for all to see.

I grew up rather laid-back and mellow, with no known quirks or neuroses or psychoses; by the time we both were twenty years old, she was already going to a physician to get dosed up on happy-pills.

Sometimes it's the small, unthought-about things, that determine a person's destiny.

http://www.conservativecave.com/index.php/topic,48940.0

[Vagabond]

My cousin isn't going to get his son's hair cut until he's five.  That kid looks like a little girl.  He doesn't have an obvious physical defect, but he is severely disabled.

[franksolich]

My cousin isn't going to get his son's hair cut until he's five.  That kid looks like a little girl.  He doesn't have an obvious physical defect, but he is severely disabled.

Does he give any reason for that?

Remember, I had a reason.

[Delmar]

14 replies so far and not one about Romney giving the femmy little kid a haircut?  The Dummies are slipping.

[Bad Dog]

I have a solution for the DUmmie who seems so worried about offending someone.  Tell the parent.. You have a nice looking infant there.  What's it's name?  Personally I gave up worrying about offending people a long time ago.  The "professionally offended" are everywhere and not worth worrying about.

[franksolich]

Does he give any reason for that?

Remember, I had a reason.

Okay, I see you added to your comment right as I was commenting.

I'm not sure, but maybe it's a way to deflect from the handicap?

When on business, I wear three-piece pin-striped suits, overdressing a tad bit too much, but not too too much.

This way, strangers pay more attention to my attire, than to my voice.

[Evil_Conservative]

Find a hobby, DUmmy.

Last December, a waitress said, "He's so cute!" to me about Carleigh.  She was wearing a Spongebob shirt, but pink Converse shoes.  All I did was say, "Oh thanks, but he is a she."  I went on to tell her that she absolutely adores Spongebob so that's why she was wearing a boy shirt with Spongebob on it that day.  The waitress apologized for the mistake, but it really wasn't that big of a deal to me.  I didn't get my panties in a wad and tell off the waitress.

[BlueStateSaint]

Find a hobby, DUmmy.

Last December, a waitress said, "He's so cute!" to me about Carleigh.  She was wearing a Spongebob shirt, but pink Converse shoes.  All I did was say, "Oh thanks, but he is a she."  I went on to tell her that she absolutely adores Spongebob so that's why she was wearing a boy shirt with Spongebob on it that day.  The waitress apologized for the mistake, but it really wasn't that big of a deal to me.  I didn't get my panties in a wad and tell off the waitress.

That's because you act like an adult, Jess.  Especially with Carleigh.