A Boy in Girl's Clothing: Should Cross Dressing Be Allowed in Schools?
posted October 12, 2009 - 1:15pmThis past week in a northwest suburb of Atlanta, a young teen boy enrolled in a new school but at first glance, you would think we was a girl. He has small delicate features, wears high heeled shoes, and ladies clothes. Then tops it off with a dramatic hat and page-boy wig.
He came to live in Atlanta because his parents would not let him go to school dressed as a girl, so he moved a whole state over to live with his sister. It turns out his parents may have been right because the presence of this boy dressed as a girl caused a fight between two other students. Apparently, one student mocked him and another stood up for him.
The young man asked all of the clarifying questions about clothing that he could think of before enrolling. However, the school has back pedaled on the permission they gave him to wear girls clothes. The school is standing behind the law that no one can wear anything that causes distractions and disruptions. A fight is definitely a disruption, and so he was told not to wear girls clothes to school.
Declaring that this was who he was, "it was his art", he had decided to homeschool. He is welcome back, says school administrators, even with girls' clothes on, but they would prefer he not wear the bright pink wig that that is so glaringly obvious (and a bit tacky).
Right or wrong, sexist or not, looking at the young man on TV, all I could think of was that if he was going to dress like a girl, then he should actually dress like a girl. He was dressed more like a reject from Dynasty with stiletto heeled shoes, big hat, and stiff wig. Any girl who dressed in that manner would be just as likely to be sent home for dressing too provocative.
When girls go to school in boys' clothes they do it largely without notice, usually wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, or button down shirt. At most they wear a tie. So if a boy is going to dress in girls clothes, I would think he would also stick to the basics and leave the hooker shoes and stripper wigs at home.
Personally, I think this is a good reason for school uniforms. Kid go to school to learn. They should not be trying to express their art during geometry class. They should be trying to exercise their brains. The dramatics really should be saved for the stage.
Meanwhile, you do have to admire that way that many students are standing up for the high school cross dresser. Back in my day, the one boy in our highschool that dressed effeminately was tortured, and he never put on a skirt, high heels, or a Sunday hat.
Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcquinn/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcquinn/
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Comments
This article made me laugh.
This article made me laugh.
My feeling is girls cross
My feeling is girls cross dress all the time. They wear pants and t-shirts and ball caps. What's good for the Goose is good for the Gander!
My Friend Edi
I have a friend who is transgender and she (male to female) is saving up money for the operation. I think its ok that people go to school dressed as the opposite gender, just as you do, so long as they are simple and not too out there.
Casey Wilson
Save Identity Issues for adulthood
I saw a similar kind of thing on tv about a boy wanting a sex change who's parents were actually helping him to go through with it despite the fact eat her was still prepubescent. I don't think this is right - of course if they feel like that as an adult they should be free to act on it, but as a child who is only just at the beginning of exploring their identity it should be discouraged and not facilitated, as it could cause problems and hurt later. Although this one does just seem like someone having a bit of a laugh rather than seriously acting on gender identity issues.
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Cross Dressing is one thing - Transgender is another....
I'm curious as to what this article is about? From the comments already here I fail to see anything relating to transgender and gender-identitiy issues. People, in general, don't move over whole states so they can dress in a fashion that will raise the odds of being tormented, unless the "dressing statement" is related to a sexual orientation misalignment.
With all due respect this article doesn't seem to get into "underlying reasons" of the "why?" You never introduce this person, or give any background information as to how this all came to be. The issue at hand here is more in the arena of equal rights for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender people, rather than just wearing girl's clothes...
And, CBRider, you're absolutely correct in this statement:
"All they are trying to do is express who they are. Instead of worrying about what kids are wearing they should be concentrating on the bullies who pick on them..."
and absolutely teach tolerance!
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Boy dressed as girl
I have to admire his courage I guess, for wanting to put himself out front to face so much ridicule and controversy. I just think that anything of this nature which creates a disturbance or distraction, whether it be images shaved into one's hair, or tee shirts with controversial slogans, all makes life harder for the teacher who is trying to teach and the kids who are there to learn. As the spouse of a teacher I see way too much tolerance of bad behavior and kids making "statements' of one kind or the other. The incentive to act "normally" and succeed for these kinds of kids might be getting out of high school and into college so they can finally "express themselves". It is at University where this type of statement making should happen, not primary school, in my opinion.
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You would think in this day
You would think in this day and age people would be over this kind of thing. So he wants to wear girls clothes, girls have been wearing boys clothes forever now. I agree schools should have uniforms to avoid this sort of thing. Without realizing it he is just alienating himself. And at the same time expressing who he is.
I have a niece going through a similar experience. She dresses down, wears her favorite wrestlers t-shirts, pants and jewelry. The school said she was inappropriate. Yet the boys wore the same thing and it was okay. The double standards is pretty raw in this part of the woods. She changed schools and they don't care that she dresses that way.
All they are trying to do is express who they are. Instead of worrying about what kids are wearing they should be concentrating on the bullies who pick on them, and perhaps teach tolerance.
Good writing, enjoyed the article.
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Usually anybody that is "different" is tormented...
Or at least that is how it was when I was in school. Anyone that seemed "different" in any way was ridiculed by some group. Thats why there was so much peer pressure to dress the same, get the name brands, join the groups, hang out at that "in" place...etc. Great article! Thanks for sharing.
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