Originally Posted by Echoes

I have more of a problem with the criticism coming from psychologists. If anything they should be the ones defending the Mother. This board is the only place I've seen this discussed (so far), but if Fox is involved, that certainly explains a lot.

As a psychology major, I cannot understand where these "experts" were coming from either. I fail to see anything abnormal or detrimental to the child's psyche going on here.

This was discussed on the nail polish blog, All Lacquered Up, and the majority opinion was that the whole controversy was ridiculous. Many of the nail polish enthusiasts on that blog have sons. When they do their nails, their young sons often ask to have theirs done too. This is not an unusual occurrence apparently.

When my firstborn was 4, he picked up a baby doll in Toys R Us then sat down and pretended he was nursing (I was a breastfeeding mom and he has 2 younger siblings). Needless to say, he is 16 now and to my knowledge he is not breastfeeding.

My second child liked to play dress-up with my 3rd child's tutu's, heels and tiara's. He's 14 now and is not a cross-dresser.

I don't see why people make such a big deal out of this.

I suppose they could boycott the product if they don't like it. That's what I do now. Well, actually I haven't started yet, but what I'm going to do is start a list of companies whose ads i hate and I'm going to boycott their companies. They bring me displeasure through their ads so I'm going to return the favour.

Looking at this logically though, the company probably produced this ad knowing it generate controversy so it would get attention. The news orgs show it because it has been fairly slow news period recently (so much so, in fact, that I was going to post a story about a pig who needed a facelift because his brow hung down over his eyes. I still might)

^^^ I highly doubt they produced this ad to generate controversy.

Mainly because its only controversial to over reactive nuts. :/

It is nothing more than photos of a little boy doing something fun with his mother. End of story.

Sorry for having an opinion

Originally Posted by BigBlueSky

Sorry for having an opinion

no your not allowed to have opinion in this thread apparently. and if you do, it's wrong or not a popular belief.

I read about this the other day and I think the whole thing is crazy. When I got the email I thought it was cute. It doesn't look like he's being forced to have his nails painted (that would be a whole different issue), it looks like he's having a blast! I'm not a parent, but I can't fathom why parents would want to perpetuate oppressive gender stereotypes by saying no, only girls paint their nails/like pink/cook. Doesn't everyone want to raise kids with the confidence to do what's right for them no matter what is considered mainstream?

When I was young, I liked trucks, he-man, transformers, helping my dad build stuff, "boy sports" (I loved playing touch football with all of the little boys on the block), etc etc. I don't struggle with deciding if I identify with the male gender.

Apparantly Jennifer Lopez does her son's nails, too:
http://cocoperez.com/2011-04-14-jenn...-blue/?from=PH

Quote:

Jenna Lyons you're not alone! People's "Most Beautiful Woman" Jennifer Lopez told the mag whenever she paints daughter Emme's nails, her twin brother Max wants to get in on the fun. Says La Lopez: "He wants to paint his nails too. Because for him, it's just paint. He's like, 'I want the blue!' Then Marc is like, 'Why are Max's nails painted?!' But he won't sit still so it's only like two nails." You hear that Fox News? It's JUST PAINT.

That's exactly what I said. It's JUST PAINT! They just like the colors and want to do what mommy does!

let me clarify, if my son asked me to have them painted, of course i would not tell him no but i wouldn't just offer to do it either. i also don't think it would create "gender identity" issues later in life either. and also to the poster who said that "transgender? members on the forum would be offended by this thread" well sorry but that's life. i am offended by things too but i also understand that everyone should be entitled to their own beliefs and opinions that are not popular or trendy. the end.

Why exactly? Just wondering. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and no one has to agree or disagree with the topic because that is what is PC for that issue. To be a mature person you have to take a differing opinion than your own and understand where someone else is coming from, and not attack someone else for not believing the way you do.

Originally Posted by canadianstudies

I would any transgendered person reading this thread - and we have quite a few on the forum - would be really, really offended by this entire thread.

Originally Posted by ArmCandyLuvr

Boy, is this overblown! Little Beckett probably sees his mom painting her nails all the time and just wanted to join in the fun. On another forum I frequent, a member recounted how she painted her young niece's nails for her birthday. Her nephew (who is also very young) asked if she would paint his toenails blue.

I agree. Seems really blown out of proportion.

Originally Posted by BomberGal

To an extent... A child is very capable of voicing displeasure over an activity or deciding what colors they like (a five year old is most certainly capable). If the kid enjoys that HARMLESS activity with his mother, who cares? When I was five, I fussed over colors with my mother all the time. At that age, I hated pink and preferred orange and purple. Later I preferred red. Then black and white. Now I like black, pink and creams. At five, I hated dresses and preferred shorts and overalls. I preferred GI JOE, army men and TMNT over barbie. They're just colors and toys. They don't have the psychological or biological importance people are trying to apply to them.

I completely agree! I don't think a person can be shaped solely on what toys they play with, what colors they like, etc.

At least the little boy is getting to spend some quality time with his mom. More and more kids are not getting that time these days...

I have more of a problem with executives and celebrities parading their kids around in the press than whole nail painting thing. DH was saying that he took ballet, had his nails painted, and played dress-up; however, he also said that he would have been upset if it were immortalized in an ad for the world to see (more upset during his teenage years, less so now). The nail thing doesn't bother me, but I hope this kid is okay with all of the attention he will be getting in the future. Why do people put their children on display? I don't get it. I would never put my children in the media unless they were of the age to understand the repercussions of the attention. I wish that people cared less about the nail painting and more about the fact that this 5 year-old is in the middle of a public controversy. Kids are not nice these days; I hope that he doesn't get teased at school. Maybe I'm cynical, but I bet the mom only thought of the $$$ that her company might get from that ad and not what putting her child in the middle of this mess would do to HIM.

Originally Posted by pursegrl12

no your not allowed to have opinion in this thread apparently. and if you do, it's wrong or not a popular belief.

That's definitely how it's coming across.

Oh well, J Crew got what they wanted.

Today some of my friends and I were painting our nails after school with nail polish that changes color depending on the light. Some of the boys (juniors and seniors in high school) thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread and asked us to paint their nails. The nail polish happened to be hot pink in the light we were in. I'm now thoroughly concerned they are going to start to question their gender and sexual orientation. Or does this dire psychological concern only apply to children under a certain age? Geesh. Boys can wear nail polish. It is not some big cosmic psychologically damaging issue. People will make something out of anything these days.

By the way, I just went and actually looked at the ad. That picture is adorable!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/232385/the...ell#s-p1-sr-i1

right on the dot