#SignsYourSonMightBeGay Reveals The Ignorance Your Children Are Living In

Harmful stereotypes about masculinity and femininity hurt everyone’s kids. Whether you personally subscribe to or reflect everything a woman or a man “should be,” relaying those same conventions to children usually asks them assume a lot about the identities of others without — you know — engaging others in conversation. Warped ideas about how to glean “gayness” from individuals continues to pervade in an inane conversation that usually comes right back to very rigid perceptions of gender. And regardless of if your son does possess a traditionally boyish manner, assuring him that masculinity can only be defined with habits like Sports Center, football, and refraining from showing any emotion ever, slight him, his complexity as a child, and his future relationships with others.

Nevertheless, instances like #SignsYourSonMightBeGay, which has been trending on Twitter today, traffic in stereotypes that threaten the development and security of all little boys, regardless of their orientation. Among them is the standard knock at a love of fashion, engaging in “female” tendencies, and delving into Twilight. But there are other gems that parents apparently should be aware of such as cartwheels, saying “mommy and daddy,” and using coloring books. The tweets illustrate not only the limitations we culturally place on the expression of little boys, forever surrounded by a moat of “perceived homosexuality,” but also the pressures boys face at young ages to conform. To be not what they want to be, but to subscribe very early to what’s socially acceptable for their gender.

Meanwhile, if you truly want a sign that your son is gay — ask him. If he says yes, then I’d say that’s your sign.

[ITPGallery]