Just another viewpoint here re gender sterotyping and boys clothes. My DH was mercilessly teased and bullied as a child and so is extremely sensitive to anything which makes a child prone to the same thing. Conversely though, he (and I) do not believe that children should be dressed head to toe in labels in order to fit in and be accepted. But he is of the very strong view that while boys should be encourgaed to be loving, nuturing and thus express "feminine" characteristics, parents should not actively encourage them (now I am talking about very little boys here) to dress in a way which will make them targets.

I should say my DH is the stay at home parent in our household so he not some blokey bloke who just believes boys should be all about fishin' and shootin' and stuff. He is very much aware of gender and sexuality issues, not homophobic, rascist or anything like that. Phew, what a caveat! But I felt it needed to be said to have a discussion about this sort of viewpoint without labels.

So : what about the issue that to some extent gender is a social construct which helps boys fit in to the world of men. If I allow/encourage/provide Flynn with a dress to wear to school in prep, or a fairy wand to pack in his lunchbox, am I setting him up to tackle issues in society (ie: our inability to accept difference within genders) which even adults have trouble dealing with? I mean, thinking and responsible members of society have issues and difficulty standing up to gender stereotypes - is it fair to ask a child, who is still learning how to "fit in" and socialise, to do so as well?

I am not trying to come down on one side or the other - just to ask questions and promote discussion.