Poll: Father in rural Germany finds his young son likes to wear dresses; does the same to show solidarity.

[FamoFunk]

Awesome Dad is awesome.

Seriously, the kid is 5 and like to dress up like 5 year olds do. OMG IT'S A DRESS THOUGH! Who gives a fuck?

My 3.5 year old Girl loves dressing up as a princess yet thinks a Spiderman costume is the shit. She also loves playing kitchen and big monster trucks, should the "boy" things be discouraged? No.

 

[Rainboq]

this is what we do in childcare, I know, I work in the industry.

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OT: This father. Get him a medal. As for any hypothetical child of mine cross dressing? I sure as fuck wouldn't discourage it, then again, women are typically allowed to wear more varieties of clothing, so it wouldn't be a problem for me. As for a spouse? Since I don't go for the Y chromosome, again, not a problem.

 

[Penguinis Weirdus]

Sorry as a firm Eddie Izzard fan (and wannabe transvestite, its a bugger getting the shoes cheap and large enough), I say watch this from about 26mins that is why the wearing of dresses only by the girls is not fair and we blokes should remedy this because:

a. As mentioned earlier it is good for the testicles to be cooler this is easier to acheive with floaty dresses that stuffy trousers.
b. We blokes will look FAAAABULOUS!

Spoiler

 

[Rainboq]

Umm. Beat the child? I dont know. It's likely a phase that the kid will grow out of. If not, he's in for a rough time later in life.

Please tell me you're joking about the first part. As for the rest, if it isn't a phase, how rough things will be later in life largely relies on how much the child's parents support the child. As trans kids who start taking hormones before their late twenties are basically indistinguishable from people born of that sex.

 

[Rainboq]

No way in hell would I let my son do that. Let it be known that I respect this man and what he is doing for his son. I just wouldn't do it personally. My son doesn't even have access to a dress. At least I would hope he doesn't.

Why wouldn't you want that? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[Froggy Slayer]

In all seriousness, I'm wouldn't let my son wear a dress. A skirt, however, yes, because guys can actually look cool when wearing a skirt. A guy wearing a dress doesn't look cool. They just look silly. This ain't anything to do with gender roles, guys, but instead a matter of aesthetics.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Seriously, the reaction to this is just weird.

I was more reacting to "Father doesnt bullshit when hes against gender roles, has guts of iron to stand up for what he thinks where many might fall short" than "Kid wears a dress". We also have to accept that in society this IS seen as weird! We are not at the stage where its "normal" yet. Its similar to someone saying "Well its just a woman wearing trousers" back when basically no women wore trousers. As much as it should be it wasnt normal and this isnt "normal". The fact a kickass dad shows it through and through is worthy of merit. Also reading this story makes me warm inside. Im allowed that at least

EDIT: Poor wording made me sound horrible.

 

[Phasmal]

Seriously, the reaction to this is just weird.

I was more reacting to "Father doesnt bullshit when hes against gender roles, has guts of iron to stand up for what he thinks where many might fall short" than "Kid wears a dress". We also have to accept that in society this IS seen as weird! We are not at the stage where its "normal" yet. Its similar to someone saying "Well its just a woman wearing trousers" back when basically no women wore trousers. As much as it should be it wasnt normal and this isnt "normal". The fact a kickass dad shows it through and through is worthy of merit. Also reading this story makes me warm inside. Im allowed that at least

EDIT: Poor wording made me sound horrible.

I didn't mean your reaction.
I meant, I've seen this reported on other websites and a bunch of people were saying that kid is going to be massively messed up and comparing letting your kid wear a dress to child abuse.
That is the reaction that I think is weird.

 

[bobthemighty]

Awesome dad.

"Is forcing a conformity to baseless gender roles a lesser evil than letting your son get used to a choice he doesn't yet understand the consequences of?"

In my opinion, yes it is. Quite frankly boys shouldn't wear dresses.

Why? Who does it harm?

 

[manic_depressive13]

Aw, that's so sweet.

The story was really heartwarming. Some of the responses here were less so. As long as people are afraid to subvert fucking idiotic social norms, how will anything ever change? Hopefully these are the first steps to normalising something which shouldn't even be an issue to begin with.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

I didn't mean your reaction.
I meant, I've seen this reported on other websites and a bunch of people were saying that kid is going to be massively messed up and comparing letting your kid wear a dress to child abuse.
That is the reaction that I think is weird.

Wow that shits weird. Yeah people fucking love social norms. Its drilled into us at an early age. The best you can hope for is to drill open mindedness instead and let children make their own choices. This kind of non issue will eventually cease to exist. Its basically inevitable.

 

[Shadowstar38]

Umm. Beat the child? I dont know. It's likely a phase that the kid will grow out of. If not, he's in for a rough time later in life.

Please tell me you're joking about the first part. As for the rest, if it isn't a phase, how rough things will be later in life largely relies on how much the child's parents support the child. As trans kids who start taking hormones before their late twenties are basically indistinguishable from people born of that sex.

It was a blanket statement for "discourage the action". I was thinking in terms of if it was my kid. I'd only just sit him down and go, "Son. Rednecks make up 50-60% of the population here. So in order to keep you from getting your ass beat on a daily basis, go put on a pair of pants"

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

While I do support this in principle the kid is 5, when you haven't even hit double digits yet this totally isn't about gender roles. Do you really think a just barely not-toddler can even comprehend the concept of gender identity contrary to actual sex. The kid just probably likes the way it looks. While the Father is very admirable this would have left a more lasting impression if the kid was like 14 or something.

Basically this, at 5 he probably just likes the comfort and aesthetics. As a teenager he'd probably be having some gender identity issues, at which point this kind of solidarity would be much more resonant.

 

[Cyfu]

I have no idea what to answer on this topic...
on one hand I want to let my son wear and like whatever he wants to, but on the other I would be afraid that he might keep doing it and it would make his school life really miserable.
I have no idea...

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

This is wonderful for the record, nice smile to add to the day. Thank You.

As for the question my Wife and I are about total gender equality when it comes to our kids. Honestly, while we'd would accepted our child no matter what the preference we would like them to be bi like his/her parents. We both agree that there are some cross gender guys that are just beautiful and can pull it off perfectly.

There are better pictures, but they are DEFINITELY not appropriate for the forums.

As long as my child isn't harming others or himself I don't give a damn what he does as long as it makes him happy. I do acknowledge that such... well for lack of a better word "lifestyles" can cause ridicule and misery to him. I will say I'll be there for him as much as I could.

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Pre added statements to avoid future arguments.

There isn't anything physically wrong with men wearing dresses. Both boys and girls used to wearing dresses for over 2 centuries. Also lets not forget than women were not allowed to wear pants until very recently.

 

[Darkmantle]

I'd make a comment once in a while to my son: "Wow, you wear dresses, not many boys wear dresses. Are you sure you want to wear a dress again, today?"

5 or not, I'd want him to know that it's not the norm. But I wouldn't berate him, stop him or forbid him for it.

Being passive Aggressive about it is even worse :/

OT: I don't know really, I like to think I would be like this dad, but I have my doubts, and you can never really know until you are put to the test.

I do however find all the "I have to stop this, so he doesn't get bullied!" replies hilarious, nothing like teaching your kid to succumb to peer pressure, that will never come back and bite you in the ass.

 

[Staskala]

Also, this is Germany people. I don't know what you think rural Germany is like but you could pretty much organize a gay sex festival in a village and no one would bat an eyelid. Not many people here give a fuck, much less in the rural parts of the country.

Where do you live? Because here in rural Southern Germany people would get out the pitchforks if you tried to have a "gay sex festival" in their town. I have no idea why you'd think rural parts would be more liberal than urban areas. People here are a hell of a lot more conservative actually.
The guy himself says that while no one cared in Berlin, he and his son were objects of ridicule after they moved to rural Southern Germany.

 

[Vampire cat]

I love this X3.

People seem to think that you don't really develop your gender identity or whatever until you have sexual preferences. My family had an idea that something wasn't quite normal by the time I was 6, and despite many years in school, where being "like the rest" is more important than life itself, I still ended up swapping genders. Nobody knows what this kid will end up becoming, but I admire the father for letting him explore it himself.