Of flowers, boys, and men

[netmouse]

Almost no clothes for boys have flowers on them. Nor toys, nor accessories.

This has really struck me as I've shopped for and sorted through kid and baby clothes this past year, and presses on my mind, especially this week after Brian brought home some nice sunflowers to put in a vase.

We want guys to buy flowers, right? And to grow gardens and potted plants, and pick flowers from them to decorate the home, as my father has done all my life?

So why this complete lack of flowers for boys? What kind of message are we sending? That they can admire lovely things from a distance, but can't own them or take care of them? That girls can dress themselves in the most cheerful colors nature offers, but boys either can't or have to think of them differently. (as fruit colors, or better yet, colors for cars and trucks??)

It's considered an insult to call a guy a pansy, but there's a reason why Bloom County's "Dandelion break" struck all the right chords. Flowers help relax the mind and body, reduce stress, and generally make life more pleasant.

I mean, I can see why a pansy became the symbol for a complete lack of "manliness". The petals come off the stem with little pressure, are flimsy, and bruise easily. But what about Tulips? Roses? Sunflowers? Begonias? Bright flaming Indian paintbrush? Brave little crocuses? Warm friendly buttercups? Tasty clover?

Right now most "unisex" clothing is plain, striped, or has animals on it. Really cute animals. Which is all well and good, but I'd like to see Unisex clothing with flowers. Bright, bold daisies and sunflowers. And maybe some jungle flowers, to go with all those animals.

Because boys should be taught to walk with beauty, too.

Comments

[amanda_lodden.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the "both sexes are equal" fight that our mothers and grandmothers fought doesn't seem to have translated to both sexes being equal, and while it's now perfectly fine for girls to like boy things (no one would stop a little girl from playing with trucks), it's still not okay for boys to like girl things. There's been a bit of a furor over it lately, brought to a more national level thanks to J. Crew, which recently featured a thing with their CEO hanging out with her son... and painting his toenails. Bright pink. At his request.

The backlash will hurt both your head and your heart.

[nojay.livejournal.com]

There's an anime series just been shown in Japan, "Hourou Musuko" (Wandering Son) about a group of junior high-schoolers trying to cope with growing up. A couple of the girls are daring and brave and cool and come to school wearing boy's uniforms and then one of their group, a boy, comes to school wearing a girl's uniform. For some reason everybody's reaction to this is... different.

[minkrose]

I've been pondering on this for years. Luckily, my husband loves wearing skirts (not just kilts), so I'm sure we'll find ways to be creative.
When he purchased a sarong from a street vendor lady who was foreign, she was so pleased that HE was going to wear it. She said that men did that where she came from, but not in America.

Eddie Izzard calls it "total clothing rights" for men. I view it as us still valuing "masculine" things, because it's okay for women to behave like men but it's not okay for men to behave like women. That means we haven't actually helped people value "womanly things" more, we've just made it okay for women to do whatever they like. It's not quite the same thing.

netmouse, I'm sure some of us could knit you some lovely floral-but-boy-friendly items. I'll be on the look out.