by Libby Juliá Vázquez
Back in November I wrote an article for Being Latino titled Shiloh Jolie-Pitt is a lesbian? in response to the outcry over a mother allowing her son to wear a ‘girl’s’ Halloween costume. As of last week, the latest public outcry is over a J.Crew ad where a little boy is wearing pink nail polish.
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The photo shows the company’s creative director Jenna Lyons with her son Beckett. The photo’s caption reads: “Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon.”
*gasp*
This of course *insert eye roll* sparked controversy with headlines such as: J.Crew Pushes Transgendered Child Propaganda and J. Crew Plants the Seeds for Gender Identity. In the latter piece, Fox News Contributor Dr. Keith Ablow wrote:
“…people deciding to tattoo themselves dark brown and claim African-American heritage? Why not bleach the skin of others so they can playact as Caucasians? Why should we hold dear anything with which we were born?”
A repulsive comparison at best—a boy’s use of nail polish to the skin color a person is born with?—it completely disregards a simple fact: like males, females were not born wearing nail polish. It’s a body decoration that, like most external gender definitions, was invented by humans and was assigned to the female gender. We as humans have the power to give these gender definitions power and significance in our society, in our homes, in our own lives.
Or not…
Somewhere in my family’s photo archives is a picture of my brother in make-up. We were playing one of our games of pretend. We were a punk rock band. Growing up with three older sisters, it was inevitable that he’d be forced to do the occasional girly thing or even have a curiosity about them (he might kill me if I mention the picture where he’s wearing a bra). Being forced to wear the occasional make-up and bra notwithstanding, he is now a well-adjusted, happily married (to a woman), father of three.
But what if the outcome was different? What if he wasn’t well-adjusted? Or not happily married? Or happily married, but to a man? Would we then be looking back at those moments of make-up a little differently? Would they be more meaningful than just funny old photos?
I’m no scientist but I would guess that those moments, happy memories of a boy and his sisters playing and laughing, served to make him that well-adjusted man (regardless of what his sexual preference may be) simply because of the happiness and laughter that was shared. Because in a world where children are often uncomfortable being who they are and what they want to be, acceptance and security should at a minimum be guaranteed at home.
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To learn more about Libby, visit Moments in My Head.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.
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