What do you all think? Should he be praised for his talent, should people be concerned for his safety, or should his parent be reprimanded for posting the videos of their young son?
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Crossdressing
This video recently came to my attention: "Little Boy Dancing to Burlesque" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3FeXYW_Je8&feature=related). It is a little boy wearing a dress, fishnets, and make up. The feelings expressed in the comments of this video (and other video's of him) are either of "disgust" or "humor". I personally don't know how to feel about them. On one hand, I'm impressed by his ability to remember the moves, perform, and have confidence. On the other hand, I'm concerned for his well being: some of the comments are very threatening and I wonder if he gets bullied, and I also wonder if he actually enjoys making these videos and if he agreed for them to be on the web.
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Video situations like these are always difficult for me to know how to approach. On the one hand, this boy is displaying confidence and skill in terms of his knowledge of the dance moves, and is not bothered about performing a "feminine" routine in a provocatively "feminine" outfit. On the other hand, one cannot help but question the motives behind this video: as many of the comments suggest, are the boy's parents to blame for setting their child up for inevitable cyber bullying? And worse, for placing their desire for their child's potential internet fame above their knowledge that their son will face harsh intolerance and hatred? It might be optimistic to assume that this video represents the parents' total embracement of their son's identity and their pride in his transgression of gender norms (especially because this video comes across as using shocking elements [namely an effeminate boy, and the fact that a mere child is dancing in a provocative way in the first place]) as the basis for humor and entertainment). But who knows...is this okay as long as the boy is okay with it?
ReplyDeleteBy "effeminate boy" I didn't mean to suggest that there's anything wrong with that in general, by the way. I just meant that the general public tends to find gender-benders "shocking"--and the fact that this boy is embracing the leotard and the lipstick is feeding in to the shock factor even more.
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