Scooby Derring-Do

So this news story has gotten a lot of attention over the course of this week. It seems some people were aghast that a five-year-old boy would want to dress up as a woman – in this case, as Daphne from Scoobie Doo – for Halloween. The child’s mother did what any self-respecting parent would do in her situation – she took to her blog to make public her dismay for those dismayed, passionately defending her son’s right to individuality.

This hit close to home because Olivia went trick-or-treating as a man this year, a year after she picked out her duds from the boys’ side of the Halloween-costume store. But since the societal expectations that we place on boys are different from girls, I understand what the blogger means when she notes that “[I]f my daughter had dressed as Batman, no one would have thought twice about it. No one.”

Olivia got nary a disparaging remark or snide comment for her Lincoln get-up; if anything, she was lauded for her creativity and originality. Sadly for this boy and others in his shoes/boots/whatever, their social norms are such that transgendered expressions are often met with scorn and derision. I try to imagine how I’d handle everything if, in four years, Reed insists that for Halloween he go as Cleopatra or – gasp! – Lady Gaga. Would I handle things as gracefully as this mom, or would I bow to societal pressures? Could I muster the wit to disarm the critics with a “…I am not worried that your son will grow up to be an actual ninja so back off”?