Cross Dress Day at DC's School

[Anonymous]

OP - I bet the parent(s) of any student who grows up to be transgender would really, really appreciate you voicing your discomfort at this idea from the perspective of someone who doesn't appear to be personally impacted by it ...

[Anonymous]

Very weird and misbegotten.

[Anonymous]

Do they actually refer to it as "cross dress day" ?

[Anonymous]

It could be very insulting to any transgender students in the class. Regarding the outfits, who cares. I would be concerns that any students might feel mocked.

[Anonymous]

I teach at a high school- our spirit days seem to be things like PJs day, country western day, tie-dye day, class colors day, .... never cross-dressing day. I think students and faculty members would take offense to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My HS did this for Spirit Week in the 80s as well, but hopefully we've evolved as a society since then. It's not appropriate because it reinforces gender stereotypes, and makes it a joke to dress up in a way that is traditionally of the opposite sex. Making this somehow strange or hilarious is why transgendered kids commit suicide, folks. Think a little bit.

I posted about the my HS doing it in the 80s. We also had the punks wearing skirts to school on regular days. I went to school with 3 transgendered students. Well they did not have their operations until their mid-20s. The bullying they went through wasn't related to the "cross dressing" day during spirit week. I think spirit week is stupid. But to suggest that "cross dressing day" is what leads to suicide seem to woefully miss the other 364 days of the year when they struggle with gender roles.

No, "cross dressing day" = suicide. It's the ATTITUDE behind this type of thing, which is a reflection of the society at large, which is what is the problem. But way to completely miss the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my question is, when you have a girl who regularly wears athletic clothes to school, what should she wear? This just highlights and reinforces gender stereotypes. I think it's insensitive (and for what it's worth, I'm also a MS teacher). It highlights the ridiculous cultural norms we have, that boys shouldn't wear skirts unless they're being silly, and that wearing athletic clothes is a boys' thing.

And to those citing what happened at schools in the 80's and 90's, I hope we've progressed socially since then.

+1000. Thank you for saying this. I have been shocked at how much gender bias still exists in MS. I thought we would have progressed in the 30 years since I was in middle school, but based on my child's experience, not so much has changed. Your post gives me hope that not all teachers/administrators are so ante-diluvian as at our school.

[Anonymous]

What's funny about this one is my very conservative husband would freak out at the thought of someone telling his son to wear a skirt to school. If that was our son's personal choice I think it would be different, but a cross dressing "day" at school would make him furious. On the flip side, I (very liberal) also find it to be completely inappropriate. This is definitely very insensitive to any GLBT families in the school (or world) who dress differently than whatever gender norms this event assumes.

[Anonymous]

PP here - I should add that if you're outed as the one who blows up this crappy event you, and your child, will be gossiped about endlessly and probably suffer socially as a result because people suck.

[Anonymous]

We have a dress like someone else day, kids can choose to cross gender lines or not. Many choose a recognizable student or teacher. There's also a twin day. The kids pick them.

[Anonymous]

I don't think its real, esp. since OP won't name the school.

[Anonymous]

What school, OP?