Apparently, folks went crazy nuts because Jenna, J. Crew's creative director, painted her son's toe nails pink because it's his favorite color. There is drama about the "gay agenda" and all manner of crazy talk as a result. This pisses me off. Everything is not the gay agenda, the kid is not cross dressing and he's not going to be scarred for life because of a little pink enamel. She says in the ad, "Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon." And people lost their minds!!
I posted on Facebook, the following:
"People should shut up. Repeatedly. I'm exhausted by foolishness. My son's fav colors are pink and purple. What am I gonna tell him they CAN'T be his fav colors? Everything is not the gay agenda. STOP STRESSING OUT CHILDREN!"
Children choose colors because they are bright, pretty fun or whatever. I have really had to work with this since I've become a parent. My boy likes stuff because he likes it. He's only five and I'm not going to stress him out or berate him. THAT might send him to therapy way before his color choices will. When he tells kids at school about his favorite colors, they say, "Eww." Probably, because they've already been told those colors are unacceptable for boys. Stuff seems pretty cut and dry with the kids at schools sometimes. They'll find out later that it's not that simple.
In my circle of friends, we believe that we have some pretty good "gay-dar" and we actually think my son is straight but that is not really the point. If he were gay, I think I'd know by now, AND I do not think that avoiding pink nail polish would "ungay" him? I really, really don't.
Of all the things that people could point to for the "gay agenda," this was a dumb choice. Gay people will tell you what their agenda is. Use the internet and you'll find out all kinds of stuff like, no agenda, some agenda, more than one agenda, and the agenda is not about you, either. And I don't think they are using Jenna. Chill out! Of course, there are people who believe that everything should be lined up by gender. No trucks for girls but all the pink and skirts they can stand to wear. And no nail polish for boys but plenty of camo, cars and plastic weapons, and on and on but I don't think it's really that serious.
Now to be totally honest, I have never painted my sons finger nails or toe nails. And I have informed him already that some people will not understand his love for pink and purple. So, I'm guessing that I'm not as liberal as Ms Jenna but I'm not hating on her either. I tell him that so he won't be surprised by the judgement and because I hope that he will be resilient in the face of their silliness. I also want him to be proud of who he is waaay before I was.
I know I cannot guarantee that my son will have fantastic self-esteem but I can at least avoid crushing his happy and creative spirit. I can love him, I can teach him right and wrong and I can encourage his gifts. But none of that puts the usage or non-usage of nail polish on my list of major tenets of child rearing.
Poor Ms, Jenna, I'm sure people will be watching and waiting to see if that cute little boy "turns out" to be straight or gay. I'm sure if Jenna had thought about the crazies, she may have hidden his identity. I'm concerned that fools might be watching to see if they will be right. And I have a problem with that because watching other people's kids like that is just creepy.
Stop stressing out our kids. Please.
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