battle of the genitalia
each time jackson is out in public, he is assumed by others to be a girl.
“oh what a lovely girl…”
“your daughter has beautiful eyes.”
“goodness those curls on her are gorgeous!”
“she looks like her mommy…”
jackson can be dressed head-to-toe in blue, one hand holding his sippy cup that has trucks on it, the other hand holding his toy trucks (he has a thing for trucks), and strangers will still assume and then comment that he is a girl.
if this happens when i’m the one out-and-about with jackson, i’ll say quite loudly, “HE” or “YOU MEAN MY SON,” or “HE’S A BOY,” and embarrass the hell out of the stranger, who then retreats to another aisle in the grocery store and cries.
paul uses a gentler method, “jackson, say thanks but i’m a boy.” (an apology is made, everyone smiles and makes friends. yay.)
granted, our son has long hair… long, curly hair. (no, i’m still not cutting it.) but, to assume, and then comment with such certainty astounds me.
so paul and i were discussing this today over lunch…
paul: “let’s get jackson a tshirt that says ‘i have a penis.’”
nic: “or one that says, ‘mom wipes my weenie.’”
paul: laughs, recalling this post from earlier in the week.
nic: (continuing tshirt talk,) “wanna see my penis?”
nic: “just cuz my hair is long doesn’t mean i don’t have a schlong.”
this banter between the two of us goes on for a few minutes, and then i look at jackson eating lunch and realize that he’s drinking from a pink sippy cup.
DAMMIT!
upon finishing lunch, the three of us head to babies r us where we spend over $100 on a multitude of gender-defining items, including a pair of pajamas with skulls and cross-bones, blue and green sippy cups, and more trucks… always more trucks.
CUZ BOYS PLAY WITH TRUCKS! BOYS!
51 Responses to battle of the genitalia
Have a Sip
We had the same problem with our long, curly haired son. We got sick of it.
Uh, why do you care what gender people think the Magoo is? Are you afraid they won’t let their toddler girls date him because they don’t want lesbian toddlers? Magoo is a beautiful sweet faced little boy with long curly locks. By choosing not to cut his hair (which I totally support) you have opted for making his gender a bit harder to spot. That’s cool, but you gotta be cool with it. Want people to know he’s a boy? Give him a buzz cut. Want him to keep his awesome mane? Accept some people are gonna get his gender wrong, and thank them for commenting on how adorable he is.
And, here are some more t-shirt ideas:
- I rock out with my cock out.
- You think my hair’s long? You should see my dick.
- I’m a bottle man, but boobs are cool, too.
- The bummer about diapers is they hide my massive package.
I never had so much of a problem with Chase, but my step-daughter Maddie was mistaken for a boy ALL THE TIME, until well after she turned two. Pierced ears and all. I don’t get it.
@badassdadblog word. i shouldn’t care. mainly i think i just like to embarrass people who assume magoo’s gender.
ps- my lady parts are leaking pee from laughing so hard at your tshirt ideas. you are ahmazing!!!
OH! Chase also had a onsie that said “I’m hung like a 5 year old”
I have a friend who is wonderfully inappropiate and gave it to me at my shower in front of all the women in Jim’s family.
Thanks again Kate.
I personally love this one:
“just cuz my hair is long doesn’t mean i don’t have a schlong.”
If you make this, I’ll buy one for Ollie. :0
I didn’t go through that as much with Mason (b/c he went from infant to maniac) as do with things about his size. People CONSTANTLY remark, that he is too old for a pacifier, or diapers or whatever other cock-a-mamy things they think has an age limit. He looks 4, but he is 2 and even if he was four, f&%k off. People do WAY too much assuming…and you know how that saying goes. For what it’s worth too, some people are just plain old stupid b/c Magoo has boyish features anyway.
I *totally* understand the frustration. It annoys me just -reading- about people who get the gender of a child wrong. While it’s great that Mr. or Mrs. Random Stranger is commenting on your [obviously] beautiful child, I think it embellishes the timeless adage of ‘think before you speak’.
I will have to make him a shirt that says: I am Only Aman… a baby man… well idk.
Anyways – our oldest hated haircuts for a long time. Recently (7 through 8.5) people thought he was a girl because of the hair. SO we got him a boyish long hair -haircut and people said WOW… hes a boy!
Anyways… dont ditch the long hair if it suits him. Stay strong! Have balls!
-Aman
People think Chloe is a boy ALL THE TIME. I cart her around in a pink stroller, with a pink t-shirt and pink skirt (no joke), and people will constantly say “what a cute little boy!” even though she has all this pink and her ears pierced to boot.
Either that, or they ASK if she is a boy or girl. I don’t know which is more offensive. It doesn’t bother me THAT much, but it does kind of annoy me. So yes, I feel your pain.
I had a good suggestion told to me today: let’s say a woman comments that the Magoo is such a pretty girl, simply say “thank you, sir.”
Nuff said.
I love the t-shirt ideas, hilarious.
Maya gets mistaken for a boy ALL THE FRICKEN TIME. She doesn’t have much hair so people assume she is a boy. She can be all decked out in a full on pink outfit, dress and all and still people will call her “buddy” or say what a cute little boy she is. It drives me nuts.
I like Sara’s suggestion about thanking the person and then calling them by the wrong gender, I might have to try that one.
I have the same problem with my soon to be 4 year old! There he is, bruises, dirt everywhere, wearing obviously boyish clothing and they still automatically assume he is a girl because of the long curly hair. LOL I react the same way you do.
@sara i am COMPLETELY doing that the next time this happens… which will probably be tomorrow morning when i get groceries. it’ll be awesome. LOVE THE SUGGESTION!!!
My mom had the same experience with me, but in reverse. She would scotch tape a pink ribbon on my head and still get … “what a cute boy!”
Even happened when I was a teenager in the 80s in TN. I had very short hair, I was buying a purse (with a purse on my shoulder) and the sales person asked me “Young man, is this for your mother?” No one can make that mistake now, with the rack I have.
I dunno, man…that’s pretty sexist to think that girls can’t play with trucks….:P
@flutter hahaha… yeah, cuz i’m all for girls NOT playing with trucks and boys NOT playing with barbies. gaw!!! i’m so NOT a feminist.
I agree with badassdad, you just have to blow it off. When Catie was a baby, I’d have her in pink from head to toe and people would still tell me what a cute little boy I had. It drove me nuts, but then I learned to just roll my eyes and move on.
Here’s what I think it is: I think people have a default gender for babies in their heads. You know how you typically call all dogs “he” and all cats “she” (or vice versa, whatever)? I think it’s the same way with babies. People just have a specific pronoun that they assign to ALL babies without stopping to think about whether or not it’s accurate.
I get that too. Since the Mini-Kamp is and always has been lacking hair, she is constantly thought of as a boy. That is why now I am teach her to pull my finger and lift her leg.
It wont even matter if you cut his hair. i cut my sons curly locks off and gave him a real boy hair cut (Mohawk) An people still call him a girl.
Yup. G has short hair and has still been called a girl. *shrug* whatcha gonna do.
@Sara, you’re suggestions cracked me UP! That is the perfect response!
Regardless though, Maggo is a cutie pie! Or very handsome…whichever you prefer!
People thought Gabriel was a girl before I cut his hair. If it was someone I never planned on speaking to again (eg stranger in grocery store) I’d usually just say, “oh thanks” cuz that shortened the interaction.
I love Sara’s suggestion too…”thank you, Sir.” Hilarious.
I have a nephew with long hair. He can be wearing a Spiderman costume and STILL people think he’s a girl. It confuses me how people can think hair is so defining. Weird.
people are dumb.
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
My vote is for:
My Mom Wipes my Weenie
Hysterical!
Oh, we had the same with our B. Long blond curls that I couldn’t bear to cut off. We ignored it. And then, last summer, as I was putting his sister’s hair in a pony tail he asked for one, too. So there we were, me and my son and my daughter, out at the farmer’s market. And after about three vendors in a row said “Have a nice day, girls” the ponytail was ripped out. And now, short hair.
So why am I going on about this? I dunno. But you’re not alone in the land of the sweet boy-child. And you certainly have the sense of humor to get through!
I have a little girl who gets mistaken for a boy quite often. Most recently, someone told me that my “son looks like Christopher Robin”.
I don’t really care. She’s a kid. It doesn’t matter – at age 3 – whether she identifies as a boy or a girl. I’m not interested in gender stereotypes. She’s just as likely to dress up as a pirate as a princess. She’ll play with cars and trucks and dolls and I don’t feel that any of those items have anything to do with gender identity. In fact, psychologists have suggested that if you want your son to practise at being a father, you’ll present him with a baby doll to play with.
I don’t believe there is a gender-defining item. Hell, *I* don’t go around dressed in all pink, so why would my daughter?
Theoretically, this opens up a big ole can of worms, and we’re not supposed to care about this stuff, etc. But I totally get it. People ALWAYS state about my twins, “Oh, boy and a girl!” NO IT’S TWO GIRLS. It doesn’t matter what I dress them in — people see what they want to see. Stupid.