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Comment by cwaniak | Hacker News Reader

> No, there aren't, but a lot of people are firmly convinced that there are.

Any evidence of that?

Here's an experiment you can try yourself if you're male: attempt to enter a typical* church or school while wearing a dress and makeup. Compare to the reactions you get entering the same establishment wearing "normal" clothes.

*I'm sure you can cherry-pick unusually liberal examples of either, but you know what I'm talking about.

There's a distinct difference between disapproving of men who dress as women and believing that they shouldn't be allowed to do so.

You think there's a lot of people who wouldn't want a cross-dresser in their church, but would allow their sons to wear dresses?

What about a kilt?

People would think you look like a hipster.

Very few people who discourage their son from wearing a dress or taking up ballet do so in an attempt to enforce some grand imperative of how things should be. Rather, parents encourage certain traits because they believe that these are the traits that will equip their children with the best odds of success. And they're right- a boy who enjoys t-shirts and sports is at a tremendous social advantage over one prefers dresses and ballet. It has nothing to do with dictating how things should be, and everything to do with trying to maximize a child's expected future happiness given how things are.

"And they're right- a boy who enjoys t-shirts and sports is at a tremendous social advantage over one prefers dresses and ballet"

Perhaps in some very conservative societies.

Where I live I'm confident that a boy who enthusiastically engages in things which actually interest him is at a social advantage over boys who halfheartedly pretend to enjoy in whatever his parents think is normal.

Ballet, for sure. Maybe not dresses so much, at least not if he is doing the wearing, but having an interest in the clothes of his female peers certainly isn't any kind of social problem.

Daniel_Newby, you are [dead].

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