Okay, I bent the rules as it’s not technically a book, but I felt limiting costume options based on gender just seemed silly and I wanted children to see that boys do not always have to emulate tough, masculine and often armed violent roles such as cowboys, ninjas, police officers, pirates, soldiers and superheroes, and that there is nothing wrong with crossing traditional gender lines.
Boys often face intense pressure to demonstrate the extent of their manliness or athleticism, while there is an expectation for girls to be pretty and attractive.
We don’t worry so much when girls wear boyish clothes, but we tend to be quite rigid in our thinking about gender behaviour in boys. Raising children in societies that adhere to these rigid gender roles, with fixed ideas about what should be considered ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, can actually be detrimental to their physical and mental health.
If we allow boys more flexibility when it comes to gender-based play then perhaps many would not grow up so disconnected from their emotions, and so unable to ask for help. I want children to grow up in a world that allows them to explore and express their personality in ways that are true to them, not in ways that society believes they are supposed to behave in relation to gender.
Equally as a grown male, if I decide I want to wear make-up and be a princess then dammit I will. So if this offends anyone you can just ‘Let it go’.