Some folks still embrace the ideals of Marlo Thomas and “Free to be You, Free to be Me.
From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-byrom/my-son-wore-a-dress-for-halloween_b_2096630.html
Kelly Byrom
11/09/2012
Editor’s note: This post uses pseudonyms to protect the identities of minors.
My family lives in a very conservative area, and we aren’t exactly walking into open arms in our community when we go trick-or-treating. This is the second year our son has worn a dress on Halloween. Last year he went as Minnie Mouse:
When Twirl declared that he wanted to be Minnie Mouse for Halloween, it wasn’t a surprise. He had been obsessed with her for a while. We ordered the costume, and I wish I had been filming when that sucker came in the mail: I’m not sure whether I’d ever seen a happier boy. I admit I was nervous. I hadn’t really thought about it when we ordered it, but when we left our house to go trick-or-treating, my stomach was uneasy. We told Twirl that some people might just think he was a girl and that that was OK, and that he could correct them if he wanted to — or not. I wanted to go into an hour-long speech on how wonderful and perfect he is and how he should not pay attention to anything hurtful anyone may say, but I am also careful to not overdo it or make it a big deal. I think maybe two or three people thought he was a girl, and he did correct them, and it was no big deal. We got some weird side looks, but thankfully no one said anything to him or to us in a negative tone. I will point out that Firecracker was dressed as a dragon, but there was no worry about her being in a more boy-typical costume, and no one said a word. That is our society.
Fast-forward to this year. Twirl said he wanted to be a fairy. His favorite is the Disney fairy Rosetta; she wears pink, after all. We went to look at the costumes, and when we held up the Rosetta costume… well, the skirt was really short! Twirl was on the tall end of the size, and I found myself saying something I would have said were it my daughter Firecracker: “That skirt is just too short. We need to find something longer.” This still makes me laugh, but seriously, it was really short. So he decided on Silvermist, the blue fairy who has a longer, blue dress with a little purple in it. I knew he didn’t have any shoes to wear with it, and his pink Converses weren’t exactly going to complement that outfit, so we went to the shoe section, and he picked some glittery, purple Mary Janes. He was so excited to try them on, and they are without a doubt his favorite part of the costume.
Continue reading at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-byrom/my-son-wore-a-dress-for-halloween_b_2096630.html
