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Clown Shames A Mother Who Wouldn’t Let Her Son Get A Butterfly Painted On His Face But Instead Asked For Skull And Crossbones
From a young age, children are taught to conform to gender norms, however, sometimes it can get really out of hand. Twitter user Sandra, who works as a clown and paints children’s faces, decided to share a sad experience she witnessed that highlights gender stereotypes. During a picnic, a boy asked her to paint a blue butterfly on his face, but his mother intervened. She forbid the boy from getting a butterfly and demanded that Sandra paint something more ‘masculine’. This encouraged Sandra to voice her opinion on what happens to boys who are shamed for liking ‘feminine’ things and are forced to be hyper-masculine instead. Scroll below to read how the whole story unfolded!
(Facebook cover image: Philip Brookes)
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From a young age, children are taught to conform to gender norms, however, sometimes it can get really out of hand
Image credits: AlbanyColley
Twitter user Sandra decided to share a sad experience she witnessed that highlights gender stereotypes
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What do you think ?
stellermatt 7 years ago
so a girl likes football and beer and she's labelled a Tomboy, instead of a girl who likes football and beer. a guy likes nature, butterflys, puppies and is labelled what? a sissy? instead of a boy who likes nature. why does everything have to have a label, a category, people like stuff, get over it! clown shoulda painted the butterfly anyway...
Amélie Bougie 7 years ago
That's exactly because of that that kind of labels that we get clichés like the « badass woman, one of the boys, not like the other women », meaning that other women only like to do the "girl things ", wich are considered superficial, you know : makeup, shopping, etc. This statement : " You know, I 'm not like the other girls. " is probably one of the less femenist of all time.
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Lazy Panda 7 years ago
Toxic masculinity truly is disgusting. Very sad that a little boy couldn’t get a damn butterfly painted on his face, absolutely ridiculous
Suzi Gauthier 7 years ago
I wonder if she would have let him have a bee. Are bees masculine? How about a cat? Is a cat feminine or masculine? A dog? What arbitrary rules.
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A Dyke From The Dreamworld 7 years ago
So, you're telling me this mother was terrified of a pretty blue butterfly and would rather have pieces of a corpse painted on her son? Jesus Christ, dude. Can we just like not dictate what our children are interested in like wtf dude
Gvantsa 7 years ago
children need CORRECT guidance of parents while they have some authority. we must "dictate" what they should NOT be interested in. we must teach them not to be interested in something terrible they can see somewhere accidentally (for example, my cousin (he was 4) saw how car killed cat. after few days he tried to kill neighbors cat. parents took good care of that problem and now he loves animals). it's sad how some parents are giving "absolute freedom" to their children while they have very weak understanding of good and evil, and no "social skills". we are living in cruel environment and it's teaching very bad things (but when parent is doing everything so wrong, like starting panic because of butterfly, letting kid do anything he wants is better, sadly), also they must learn to be part of society (e.g. not to throw food towards other people in restaurant while parents are letting him "be him/herself"). being good parent is hard job and there are too many people doing it wrongly.
Load More Replies...
Kiki 7 years ago
I would have told her, "You want to stick to gender roles and stereotypes? Then be seen and not heard and get back to the kitchen where you belong!"
Linouchka 99 7 years ago
This clown didn't shut her down at all. She tried, but she did not succeed. And then she vented on Twitter. This being said, I'm glad this situation (violent and artificial masculinity being forced on boys and men from a very young age on) is finally, and more and more, seen and contested. I hope it will be History one day.
Suzi Gauthier 7 years ago
Yes, I am tired of reading things where people are shut down and then they are not. But I am glad she tried.
Load More Replies...
JillVille 7 years ago
My 4 yr old son asked to have his nails painted when his older sisters had a sleepover with all their girlfriends. The 7 & 8 yr old girls were thrilled to paint his nails every colour he asked for - toes too. He was just happy to be included. He's 15 now and still lets his sisters paint his nails on a Friday night and just takes it off before school on Monday. He's not warped by this. He's just happily hanging out with his family.
Fred Burrows 7 years ago
I'm over 300 lbs of scary and I love butterflies . Nobody has ever said anything negative about it to my face ,
Cherie 7 years ago
The mother was clearly someone who should never have been allowed to have children. Same for her ignorant husband. That poor child couldn't pick his parents.
Grumble O'Pug 7 years ago
Add another f****d up Testosterone Poisoned kid to the mix. Parents probably think they are so cool. Ugh.
Wina Alkerchief 7 years ago
It's only a BUTTERFLY!!!! Why does his mom have to react so strongly to a BUTTERFLY!!!! My goodness.
Amanda Ford 7 years ago
And he's only 4! And it's blue (a "boy" color)! They seriously need to get over themselves.
Load More Replies... stellermatt 7 years ago
so a girl likes football and beer and she's labelled a Tomboy, instead of a girl who likes football and beer. a guy likes nature, butterflys, puppies and is labelled what? a sissy? instead of a boy who likes nature. why does everything have to have a label, a category, people like stuff, get over it! clown shoulda painted the butterfly anyway...
Amélie Bougie 7 years ago
That's exactly because of that that kind of labels that we get clichés like the « badass woman, one of the boys, not like the other women », meaning that other women only like to do the "girl things ", wich are considered superficial, you know : makeup, shopping, etc. This statement : " You know, I 'm not like the other girls. " is probably one of the less femenist of all time.
Load More Replies... Lazy Panda 7 years ago
Toxic masculinity truly is disgusting. Very sad that a little boy couldn’t get a damn butterfly painted on his face, absolutely ridiculous
Suzi Gauthier 7 years ago
I wonder if she would have let him have a bee. Are bees masculine? How about a cat? Is a cat feminine or masculine? A dog? What arbitrary rules.
Load More Replies... A Dyke From The Dreamworld 7 years ago
So, you're telling me this mother was terrified of a pretty blue butterfly and would rather have pieces of a corpse painted on her son? Jesus Christ, dude. Can we just like not dictate what our children are interested in like wtf dude
Gvantsa 7 years ago
children need CORRECT guidance of parents while they have some authority. we must "dictate" what they should NOT be interested in. we must teach them not to be interested in something terrible they can see somewhere accidentally (for example, my cousin (he was 4) saw how car killed cat. after few days he tried to kill neighbors cat. parents took good care of that problem and now he loves animals). it's sad how some parents are giving "absolute freedom" to their children while they have very weak understanding of good and evil, and no "social skills". we are living in cruel environment and it's teaching very bad things (but when parent is doing everything so wrong, like starting panic because of butterfly, letting kid do anything he wants is better, sadly), also they must learn to be part of society (e.g. not to throw food towards other people in restaurant while parents are letting him "be him/herself"). being good parent is hard job and there are too many people doing it wrongly.
Load More Replies... Kiki 7 years ago
I would have told her, "You want to stick to gender roles and stereotypes? Then be seen and not heard and get back to the kitchen where you belong!"
Linouchka 99 7 years ago
This clown didn't shut her down at all. She tried, but she did not succeed. And then she vented on Twitter. This being said, I'm glad this situation (violent and artificial masculinity being forced on boys and men from a very young age on) is finally, and more and more, seen and contested. I hope it will be History one day.
Suzi Gauthier 7 years ago
Yes, I am tired of reading things where people are shut down and then they are not. But I am glad she tried.
Load More Replies... JillVille 7 years ago
My 4 yr old son asked to have his nails painted when his older sisters had a sleepover with all their girlfriends. The 7 & 8 yr old girls were thrilled to paint his nails every colour he asked for - toes too. He was just happy to be included. He's 15 now and still lets his sisters paint his nails on a Friday night and just takes it off before school on Monday. He's not warped by this. He's just happily hanging out with his family.
Fred Burrows 7 years ago
I'm over 300 lbs of scary and I love butterflies . Nobody has ever said anything negative about it to my face ,
Cherie 7 years ago
The mother was clearly someone who should never have been allowed to have children. Same for her ignorant husband. That poor child couldn't pick his parents.
Grumble O'Pug 7 years ago
Add another f****d up Testosterone Poisoned kid to the mix. Parents probably think they are so cool. Ugh.
Wina Alkerchief 7 years ago
It's only a BUTTERFLY!!!! Why does his mom have to react so strongly to a BUTTERFLY!!!! My goodness.
Amanda Ford 7 years ago
And he's only 4! And it's blue (a "boy" color)! They seriously need to get over themselves.
Load More Replies...
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