It's salmon!

Have you ever seen old pictures of men wearing period clothing? Some of those styles look pretty frilly to me. There is nothing inherent about being a woman that makes you more suited to wearing a dress, and there is nothing inherent about being a man that makes it wrong to wear one.

31- it's not scientific, but I figured dresses were more convenient for women when they pee (before restrooms). Walk out into a field and go without being indecent or dealing with all the I undergarments. It's the same with leggings/kilts/pants for men.

You really need to take both words together in "frilly dress." Yes, there have been frilly clothes for both genders through the ages, but the few articles traditionally worn by men that lack any cloth between the legs are really not frilly. That said, I do kinda agree with the whole "social constructs" thing. My brother has previously admitted on national television that he dressed in drag on at least one occasion, so whatever. I can't care about this else I'd make myself too embarrassed to live.

The point is really that men in the past have worn things that we would consider feminine today because the definitions of what men and women are supposed to look like have changed. If being male or female predisposed people to dress in a certain way, we would not have cultural and historical variation like that.

Ah,the joys of sociology.

first!

It would be most convenient for everyone to wear dresses/ skirts/ kilts. Everybody poops, no?

Actually, dresses used to be common clothing for children of either sex. Like the colour pink, dresses are no longer seen as appropriate for boys, despite a long history of things being different.

Boys used to wear dresses until about age 10, in the 20s I believe.

4-men don't care about all of the different names for every variation of a color unless they're gay. Even then it's a stretch. Pink is pink. [still agree with 1.]

I was born in the 1970s, and there's a picture of me wearing a long white dress for my baptism. Apparently, that was the last remaining part of the boys wearing dresses tradition.

Some community's of the Amish in Kentucky dress their baby boys in dresses until the age of 2.

I am horrified reading this assuming it was a man.

89, you lie! Girls don't poop!

31 - Everything you say is true but I went to school in Scotland. Once you've seen up a man's skirt you never quite look at life in the same way.

You're brother admitted to dressing in drag on national tv? Uh, I'm guessing Jerry Springer? I'd love to know where you are from. I'll go with Alabama just as a w.a.g

Sometimes I dress my boy dog in girl do clothes when I'm bored..

Yep – for a long time, it was traditional for children of both sexes to wear dresses until they were about ten or so and the boys were "breeched", i.e., put into trousers for the first time. The original idea was, I believe, that fairies and/or demons were more likely to come and steal or harm male children than female children, so the parents dressed both sexes alike in order to protect their sons until they were old enough to protect themselves. Then I think it just kinda became traditional. Still, it's interesting stuff.

Cultures constantly define and redefine their concepts of gender-specific clothing, but I think there's at least a small, indirect biological influence on the ways men and women dress. Males tend to be the fancy, showy, colorful members of their species (even in humans, men get the elaborate facial and chest hair, higher muscle definition, etc.) to attract the females. I think women of our species also have an innate attraction to frilly things, and it plays out in our clothing preferences. Guys, on the other hand, tend to be more interested in the plain, beardless, bald-chested thing that's underneath all the pretty shinies. This is all generally speaking, though, and by no means a moral statement about how members of either sex "should" or "shouldn't" dress. Plenty of men like frills and plenty of women find them nauseating.

She's in Oregon she's always bored

Well, dressing him in boy's clothes isn't exactly letting him figure it out either. At least she's giving him a sample of both. :) And anyone who thinks blurring gender lines or violating social norms = mental instability is a closed-minded ass. Even if you don't approve of it, how could you say such a thing? To her own daughter-in-law no less?

He's 6 months old... My mum did the same to my brother and me when we were that young. Didn't impact our lives at all because, whoopity-do, we couldn't remember. We actually look back on our gender-swapping baby photos for laughs. Anyhow, OP, sorry you have a lame mother-in-law.

Unless he goes drag. Then it'll provide him some closure.

34 - People don't just "turn gay", dumbass.

You don't "turn" gay. Moron. Dammit, you beat me to it >.<

34 - That comment suits your profile pic!

Jsformga: Yes, dressing up an infant, who does not know anything about gender roles, let alone how to hold their bladder, is why people are gay. You're a ******* idiot.

No, being treated like anything didn't do shit. Guess what? There are straight kids who have gay parents, and there are gay kids who have straight parents. Standing in a garage doesn't make you a car, dumbass.

jsimpson24, I've seen a lot of stupid comments on FML, but yours might take the cake. Your ignorance is truly astounding.

Touche.

I guess going for a walk was out of the question.

She deserves to be called mentally unstable for dressing her son, who is too young to even remember this, in feminine clothing? Maybe I'm assuming things, but that sounds a bit sexist.

it is not normal. and seeing her crossdressing a 6-month old without any excuse would really be strange

There's nothing wrong with that. When I was a young child I would dress my younger brother in my old toddler dresses. He looked adorable. Currently he's being trained in mixed martial arts and is disgustingly manly and likes to lord the fact that he's stronger and taller than me over me.

122 - Cool story, wench. 76 - "Too young to remember it" by your logic, the victim not remembering something makes it ok. So... Let's go and cross-dress a load of patients with Alzheimer's?

Amen #5

#5, what difference does it make? It won't change who he is, and he probably won't even remember it. Besides, she apparently only did it once. And I don't see how it's weird to see a toddler in "drag". Toddlers are so androgynous that you probably couldn't even tell the difference. I know people mistake my 2-year-old cousin for male just for wearing blue, even when they're girls' clothes...

All kids up to about twoish pass for girls or boys. No big deal.

I'd say even past two-ish. Kids are physically androgynous until puberty, and since adolescent girls can pass for boys pretty easily, I'd say it's not until maybe 13-ish that they couldn't pass in drag.

I don't see a problem at all with mixed-gender dress up. Me and my neighbor would switch clothes all he time, just because we were bored. Hey, we still do it, and we're 14. I never got the fact that best friends could share clothes, but only if they're the same gender. And neither of us are cross-dressers, transgender, or homosexual (not that there's anything wrong with those.) Xavier's girlfriend doesn't mind, she finds it hilarious when me and him will skip into school in each others clothes singing show tunes, just to make a point.

You guys are awesome. I think that's great :-)

You are obviously not a parent....

Exactly what I thought! Being a parent is not always super fun and exciting. I dressed my son as a girl and posted pictures on Facebook. Little kids love dress up ;)

That won't be embarrassing for him in 6-7 years at all.

I can't get bored with babies. I get amused just from seeing my cousin's 4-month baby boy yawning... Too adorable!

For some mysterious reason, your cousin's baby is always more entertaining than your own baby that you have to take care of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Well, you can't be sure I'm not the guardian... Ahhh. ^

Guardian or not, the baby is 4 months. New and novel - and not yours!! When you have been a *parent* you will understand.

160 has inadvertently answered the original comment perfectly. It's precisely because babies have 24/7 needs that it's hard to find time to be bored.

Little boys love dress up until those pictures become accessible to many more people than he'll wish had seen them when he turns 18! ;-)

Lol, I was just gonna point the out sirpantsalot.. You beat me to it lol xD

Dressing up your children means that you are using them for your own amusement?

79 in boy clothes, maybe not. But in girl clothes? Yeah I think it's for her own entertainment especially when she is dressing him up because she was bored.

I personally see nothing wrong with playing with your child for your own amusement...I mean it's not like it is in anyway harmful to his psychological or physical well being...he's a baby who'll have no memory of this.

So you should use your children as a dress up doll just because they won't have any memory of it?

You guys need to loosen up. It's not a crime to dress up your child to look like a girl or boy. It's not like she's abusing her child or anything.

You guys need to chill the **** out. Such babies to take offense at small, meaningless actions.

125 - Ummm...I've never met a parent who HASN'T used their baby as a dress-up doll; if that weren't the case, infants clothes would have no "fashion" because babies don't give a sh*t what color it is. Every "cutesy" outfit any baby has ever worn has been for the sake of someone playing dress-up with them. So yeah, definitely nothing wrong with it.

120 Even if the child doesn't remember, it's the principal that matters. Because OP's bored that gives him a right to use his child for his amusement?

Yeah. Principals can be such killjoys. You know, with the detentions and all.

I'm pretty sure a child that young would be entertained by being played with as well. The activity doesn't matter, it's the fact that mama is holding them and paying attention to them that they care about. As long as the child wasn't upset by it, who cares. Y'all need to take care of a 9 month old sometime, after you grow up a little anyways.

... Please don't ever procreate.

Are you being serious?

I don't think #8's question is completely unreasonable, to be honest. I don't think parents should force nontraditional gender roles on their children in the way OP did, but if an adult male wants to wear a dress, who cares? It's just clothing.

In the past, baby boys would wear dresses because it was easier to change diapers. I've seen pictures of my grandfather and his cousins and brother in dresses, and nobody thought it was weird then. Men throughout history have worn clothing that is basically a skirt or a dress.

*cough* Jesus wore a dress *cough*

It is more acceptable for women and girls to wear masculine clothing than it is for men and boys to wear feminine clothing. You have to wonder why this is. It should be perfectly fine to dress your little boy in a pink dress, he can choose what he wants to wear later in life on his own, but I think it's good to set up this idea of a broad gender fluidity from a young age. Of course OP was probably doing this for a laugh and not really to make a point or set up a different social atmosphere for her son.

Hey Firefly, I do plan on having a kid or two, and if my son wants to wear something pink or frilly I'll let him, and if my daughter wants to wear jeans and t shirts, I'll let her. Then maybe they will grow up to be well adjusted, instead of being shoved into a box and forced to pretend to be something they aren't.

The reason why it is more acceptable for women to wear masculine clothing than for men to wear feminine clothing is because masculinity is seen as superior to femininity. That way, it makes a little more sense that women would try to "upgrade" themselves to seem more masculine, but if a man wore feminine clothing he would be downgrading, and therefore some kind of weirdo.

There is also the issue of not wanting to seem transgendered. If a woman dresses masculinely and goes all out with a tuxedo and bow tie she is still viewed as a woman. And a man can dress femininely to a certain point (v-necks, skinny jeans and scarves are seen as more feminine clothing) but wouldn't dare wear a dress or skirt for fear of people thinking that he wants to be a woman (this is assuming the man is not transgendered of course).

18,If she can't procreate,can she still con-create?

@23: It's not even really forcing non-traditional gender roles, since he was too young to even remember it, and she never said she took him out in public like that.

Because that is what society has decided it likes. I enjoy how you point out that men have worn things similar to dresses but cannot point to a time when men actually wore dresses. You can't because societies from many continents during many decades have agreed that men don't do that. Is it right? Don't know. Should you really encourage your future kids to wear dresses if they want to? Sure, if that's how you wanna do things. I just ask that when your son goes looking for a job that you don't bitch about the companies that are seeking people who are at peace with societal norms and thus won't hire him. We promise not force our pant-wearing ways on him if you agree that we shouldn't have to endure his man-legs in a dress.

Morden, I have mentioned times when males wore dresses. Baby boys used to wear dresses all the time and nobody thought it was odd. Garments may not always be called dresses because they have a name of their own. Robes and gowns have been worn by men in various times, and they are pretty much the same thing as a dress. Kilts are not called skirts because they already have a name, but they are still cloth that goes around your lower body that does go between a person's legs, so they are similar things. Also, if you agree not to force pants wearing on a man as long as he doesn't enforce his dress wearing on you, what is he supposed to wear?

" I enjoy how you point out that men have worn things similar to dresses but cannot point to a time when men actually wore dresses. " *coughJesusandRomansandGreeksandEgyptiansandMedievalfarmersandScotsandArabians(even nowadays)cough* Maybe you should rethink your opinion, Morden, 'cause I'm getting pretty sick over here.

Yeah Djee, you should really look into getting a new gas mask. That one is clearly not working well for you. Also, I find it weird that there seems to be a gender split on this issue. I haven't seen very many men who are willing to look at the facts and admit that historically, at least, this isn't that weird.

#101 - In Japan, men and women both wore yukatas, which are pretty much dresses. And I distinctly remember giggling at 18th century novels in which men wore "nightdresses".

Guys DO NOT wear dresses... They're called kilts.

1. those were robes 2. Jesus lived 2000 years ago when everyone wore robes and it was acceptable.