Dean and Cheryl Kilodavis have gained national media attention for parading their 5-year-old son around in a dress.
The Seattle couple claims that Dyson developed an affinity for wearing dresses, skirts and pastel colors. So to appease the child, the couple eventually allowed their son to dress like a princess and wear lip gloss.
Cheryl wrote a book titled My Princess Boy
The book has been picked up by Simon & Schuster and Cheryl and Dyson were recently featured on the “Today” show.
0 responses to “Discussion: The Princess Boy”
wow, speechless
Oh dear. What has influenced this? Here is where I would question the “born this way” response. To be female or to be gay means to like pastel colors, skirts, dresses and lip gloss? No. That is culture and stereotypes that say those things are “feminine”, “sexy”, “attractive.” We are taught this. It is not intrinsic. What is this child being exposed to?
Good lord. Let’s not immediately start wondering what this child was “exposed” to (as if gender were a virus) or who may have trained him to like ruffles and pastels. I respectfully disagree with another poster that children like girly things or boyish things based only on what’s offered by society. Assuming this child has been raised on earth, he was exposed to masculine AND feminine ideals and he is choosing feminine. I’ve heard, and been disgusted by, veiled attacks on the father for not steering his son into the blue. Do you think daddy WANTED a princess instead of a warrior? Do you think momma relished the idea of her son being teased and perhaps physically abused by peers because of his differences? I can guarantee the answer is “NO” but that doesn’t stop them from loving him unconditionally and readying themselves for an uncertain future that his older “masculine” brother will have to learn to live with as well. That little boy probably is gay but we don’t know how he’ll mature. I do know that you can teach a boy to play Cowboys and Indians but you can’t stop him from wanting to be Pocahontas.