A German father is showing support for his 5 year-old son who likes to wear dresses, by wearing skirts himself. Nils Pickert started 
wearing skirts in order to support his son, who was hesitant to wear dresses and skirts in public due to the threat of ridicule by peers and the overall community.
The story has drawn a lot of attention, and one commentator on the Huffington Post website felt that Pickert was completely in the wrong when allowing his son to wear women’s clothes: “If a boy (at the age of 3 or so) wants to wear girl clothes and act like a girl that means it’s time to explain to him that he is a BOY. There is NOTHING wrong with being a boy or a girl, but be who you are. Fashion and style do not make us who we are, but they do characterize us to a degree.”
We find this comment particularly peculiar since there is a distinction to be made between the sex and gender of a person, which the commentator completely ignores. If one believes in social construction, gender roles are socially constructed and not dependant on one’s sex. There is nothing about a person’s sex that makes it unfeasible for a man or a woman to wear a skirt or a dress, except for societal pressure and normative assumptions about gender. When the commentator states “be who you are,” she really means, “act according to stereotypical notions concerning gender.”
At the same time, do we need to point out the double standard of this thinking when the commentator says both “be who you are” and “fashion and style do not make us who we are”? Also, who is the commentator to say “be who you are” and then decide that the dad and son are wrong when attempting to be who they are and dress however they like?
In terms of fashion, the ancient Romans were known to wear tunics and togas, while some Scottish men wear kilts, and both women and men in many parts of the world wear sarongs. And it wasn’t until fairly recently in history that women started wearing pants. Not to mention that traditionally, men and boys in America were more likely to wear pink than girls and women–the now-common trend of girls wearing pink and boys wearing blue did not start until around the 1940s.
Nils Pickert is supporting his son’s clothing choices while letting him be who he is. We think this father’s compassion, love, and respect for his child is truly admirable in light of all the criticism, negative comments, and ridicule.
I think he’s screwing up this poor kid: http://www.sippycupcocktails.com/2012/09/attention-seeking-dad-gays-up-his-son.html
How can you raise someone gay and how does letting your son wear dresses make him gay? There are plenty of straight men out there who like to wear dresses and skirts. These type of clothes are not reserved for women only but are worn mostly by women because it is believed to be “feminine” and the “proper” clothes to wear in our very gender policing society.
I never liked wearing dresses and skirts, not as a child and not now. I never wanted to be a princess and my life never revolved around getting married. This is not what all girls dream about. Despite this I’m straight so the argument is ridicilous. If i wasn’t why would anyone else care?
I am a straight male in my late 50′s and I have discovered the comfort of wearing a skirt. I would wear one whenever I could but am limited to within the house because my wife isn’t comfortable with me wearing one outside. I think that she is more concerned about what the neighbours would think, something that doesn’t worry me. I have lots of skirts and my wife says that I have good legs and do suit a skirt. I don’t want to look like a woman and I think wearing a dress isn’t for me as they tend to be low in front on the neckline and that combined with a hairy chest just doesn’t go somehow. I do have one dress that is quite high at the front that I might consider wearing. Funnily enough my wife gave me this. The skirt just doesn’t have this disadvantage. I’ve always said that I wasn’t normal and I suppose this proves it!
It’s a good thing that the dad believes his son should wear a dress now and then. I would suport the dad in his movement and by him wearing a dress also shows that men can look good in them and feel comfortable in them. why should the ladiesw have all of the good clothes?