Isn’t it great when dads and their sons do things together? Like cross-dressing. Yes, I’m aware that there is a politically correct term for this phenomenon. I am also aware that 0.3% of the U.S. population considers itself transgender, which still makes it abnormal in the statistical sense.
Anyhoo, an article at Opposing Views titled “Public Applauds Father For Letting His 2-Year-Old Son Wear Dresses” jubilantly advises:
Seth Menachem wants the world to know that he’s not ashamed of his two-year-old son’s desire to wear dresses.
To further establish his own skin in the game, the article’s author, Dominic Kelly, provides a link to a report at the website boingboing with the headline “Awesome dad unperturbed by 2-year-old son’s penchant for wearing dresses.” Yeah, that’s awesome … as in shock(ing) and awe(some).
A picture from that story, reproduced below, shows Menachem himself dressed like a housewife and looking pretty (peculiar).
You may think that 2-year-olds, many of whom haven’t yet cultivated language or control of their bowels, are not quite developed enough to make life-affirming — or -altering — decisions, but Menachem decided that Asher’s refusal to wear “boy” clothes was all the evidence he needed. After trying desperately (and failing) to persuade the boy (if that is the correct term) to don a pair of shorts, Menachem gave in — and up. (Here’s hoping Asher doesn’t decide he’d prefer to ride on the roof of the family car when it’s traveling at high velocity!)
Menachem wrote about his trials and tribulations and ultimate acceptance at Huffington Post:
I grab shorts and a T-shirt out of the drawer and dress him, because he still has trouble dressing himself. But he figured out how to undress himself – and pretty often that means he’s ripping off his clothing and screaming ‘dress’ over and over again. He climbs onto the chair in the closet and tugs at one of Sydney’s dresses –‘This one.’
Sydney, the article at Opposing Views notes, is Asher’s 4-year-old sister. It seems not to have dawned on Kelly or Menachem that maybe Asher isn’t so much betraying a feminine side as he is seeking to emulate an older sibling by dressing the way she does.
Nah, that couldn’t be.
Menachem laments that many people have judged his decision to allow Asher to wear dresses, but (Kelly writes) “despite the criticism and ignorance, [emphasis added]” he believes he is doing the right thing by his child. “If my son is gay, so be it,” he says. “Maybe he is. Maybe he’s not. Maybe he’ll be a cross dresser. Maybe not. I have no control over any of it. All I can do is be supportive.”
Er — you could try being the adult in the room, of which you are the only one chronologically.
As a postscript, consider the story yesterday of a single mom who is in jail for allowing her 9-year-old daughter to play unattended in a busy playground near her place of work. The state intervened, deciding that the mother is an unfit parent and that the child is better off in foster care. Seth Menachem, meanwhile, is considered a perfectly normal parent despite his inability to make responsible, grown-up choices for his toddler. Anyone see a double disconnect here?
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