Can boys play dress up?

I am an education major and I am doing my practicum in a daycare full of sixteen four- to five-year olds. A couple of days into it, I began to understand the differences in interaction, language, and activities between boys and girls. The girls like to play mommy and baby and the boys play “good guys bad guys” during dramatic play. I remember from this class looking at the different toys, clothes, and books, which are placed into categories for boys or girls. However, should there be this distinction of what boys can play with or what girls can play with when they are younger.
Two weeks later, I was observing a boy dressing up boys clothes and enjoying it. However, the teacher told me that he used to dress up in girls clothes. I did not and still don’t, think there is anything wrong with boys dressing up in girl’s clothes. Apparently, the change from dresses to hats and suit jackets was from the influence of his father. His father did not like the fact that he was dressing up in girl’s clothes because maybe he thought he would turn out to be gay. I think that young boys and girls should experiment and explore different activities, clothes, games, because they do not know the difference. Children should not be forced into the gender norms or society by their parents or guardians, children should be able to choose where they fit in with society or in this case, their classmates.

The Missing Vagina Monologue

The article “The Missing Vagina Monologue and Beyond” by Esther Morris explains how she was missing a vagina when she was born and her feelings were not taken into consideration.

MRKH syndrome is when you are born without a vagina. Although many women are born with a vagina, Morris was not. This article compares with reproductive choice. Morris was faced with this rare syndrome at a young age and because she was so young, she did not have the opportunity to make her own choices. The doctors insisted that she have her vagina reconstructed for sexual reasons, even though her insides where hurting her. She should have had the choice of whether she wanted to have a vagina. Another shocking discovery was the fact that the doctors did not tell her about the side effects of having MRKH. Like reproductive choice, society should hold a broader view on MRKH in order to socially and emotionally understand what these women go through when they are diagnosed with it. Also, there are possible gender roles that could be assigned to women who do not have normal sexual activity because of the lack of their vagina. I believe that doctors should take into consideration women’s choices on what they want to do with their body. They should also realize that the body parts are not what distinguish gender. Overall, women should have the right to choose what they want done to their body when dealing with MRKH for the sake of reproduction in the future.