Just something current and interesting…
Posted April 12, 2011 
Comments(5)
Comments(5) Upon surfing the net I stumbled upon this article and immediately thought of our class, so I thought I’d share it here:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/04/11/j-crew-plants-seeds-gender-identity/
Responses?
I was just going to post this! I was thinking the same thing. What does it matter if a boy has hot pink toenails? There seems to be this need in society to separate the sexes. So, basically, I suppose gender is really just what color we paint our nails (if we indeed paint our nails).
AH! This is wrong on so many levels!! I hate how they suggest this person need psychotherapy. That’s just like Fox News to take such a conservative standpoint. The whole issue I take with this author’s perspective is that they blame parents for “encouraging” cross-gendered behaviors in their children, when really, these parents are probably trying to establish a level of unconditional positive regard for their own children’s personal preferences. Although, it is really unknown if this child really does love the color pink on his nails, we can certainly find cases of plenty of conservative (even homophobic families) whose children do turnout to have radically different views, lifestyle choices, and moral grounds than the parents through childhood and into adulthood. Did THOSE parents “encourage” these cross-gendered behaviors. I agree that no children should ever be forced into being something they clearly do not see themselves as, whether the role is gender appropriate, cross gendered, or gender-less!
Well, the benefit is that non-fiction always wins, in the end. And to the extent that you take flights of fancy into masquerading through life, life will exact a psychological penalty.
This person has radical views!!!!! “And while that may seem like no big deal, it will be a very big deal if it turns out that neither gender is very comfortable anymore nurturing children above all else, and neither gender is motivated to rank creating a family above having great sex forever and neither gender is motivated to protect the nation by marching into combat against other men and risking their lives.” What ever happened to “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” Clearly, people of all shapes and sizes want to serve this country with the freedom they are promised to do so. People of all preferences and styles want to raise families (whether they adopted children, or surrogates) and be legally recognized as married (as the marriage equality vote still continues to fight for equal marriage rights)!
MAYBE, these are not “costumes” for these people, but they are explorations of what may truly fit who they are.
It’s so sad to see that a Psychiatrist (who probably has not real interaction with his patients he sees for 15 minutes a session) has any real, qualified judgements!!! As a psychology student this hurts. The majority of my training as an undergraduate is that there is nothing more essential to a human’s quality of life than that of the character he or she chooses to uphold through it; if that character is never encouraged to grow and reach full potential–that’s real psychological turmoil. Especially, if the parents set those boundaries.
Reading this article I could not help but think of how ridicules the argument in this article sounds. Painting the toe nails of a boy lead all the way to Dr. Keith Ablow arguing that “it will be a very big deal if it turns out that neither gender is very comfortable anymore nurturing children above all else.” How does Dr. Ablow decide that just because the child likes the color pink (if he really does) and enjoys spending quality time with his mom by painting his toe nails, that he will not want children in the future. It seems to be a huge jump from what the original topic was, to what it became. This shows to me that the argument is forced, and it’s logic is flawed.
Also who is he to judge and predict the future of all those children who are similar to the child in this article based on this one senario that he is using as a basis? He blocks together people just based on a few characteristics without regard to the differences in the circumstances. To me it shows that Dr. Ablow is narrow-minded on this subject of gener-roles, and gender-identity. He has a set view on them, and he believes that everyone should conform to those views because in his opinion they are the “right” views.
I’m going to piss a lot of you off right now…I feel it, but I think there are some issues with painting a boy’s toenails pink…Hear me out first. I saw this story when Jon Stewart brought it up on the Daily Show (dont judge me, i love that man). When I first saw the report, I was furious, and I totally agreed with Elaina, FOXNews would have a problem with a boy a pink toenails because they are conservative pricks (i dont know if that’s a bad word…if so, sorry professor) However, while i may not go as far as FOXNews, and take it to the lengths that they do, I do have a problem with the advertisement. OK so my reasoning now…if a male wants to wear pink nail polish, cool, im down…however the advertisement brings up some issues, does the boy want to have nail polish on? he looks pretty happy to get his toe nails painted, fine, but how easy is it to sway a child’s judgement? or as kirti pointed out, maybe he just likes the color pink, again, perfectly fine. the problem i have is that jcrew is obviously playing a risky game, but then the place everyone in the position fox is in…if you disagree with the commercial you are a conservative prick who then therefore has a problem with homosexual males, yes, and everyone knows that the idea foxnews is driving at: “paint your sons toenails pink, your grooming him to be queer, and thats baddddddd.” I dont think it is fair to think that way, because I think there still is a semi-serious issue at hand: are parents trying to groom their kids into what they wanted to be? of course they are! how many times have we heard, “im studying accounting becasue my dad wants me to”? nobody bitches about that, but then with gender and sexuality we feel the need to? for all we know the editor (i forgot her name, Jenna? the mom of the boy) wanted a girl and is now almost influencing the boy to wear pink nail polish….obviously that is a stretch… i know, but then again it could just all just be getting blown out proportion. what i do know, is that JCrew’s marketing team are geniuses, because now no one can get JCrew out of their mouths!
I digress though. I do think that the advertisement is playing with fire, and well aware of it. It is not an easy theme to discuss, and probably no right or wrong answer.
Do i think it is wrong for a boy to wear nail polish, no…let me state that again before i get shot, NO…however i do feel that jcrew is playing a serious game here. No matter what is ethically correct, social rules and doctrine control, and JCrew is definitely stirring up waves in the kiddie pool…no pun intended
damn i really should have proof read this before clicking enter….i meant to write, “are parents trying to groom their kids into what they WANT THEM to be?” not “wanted to be”