5th grade Halloween costume rules: NO cross-dressing. Interesting.

[Beausoir]

I found it interesting that a 5th grade class would prohibit cross dressing costumes.

[wtmusic]

1. background?

:crazy:

[Beausoir]

11. My son's 5th grade sent home a note re: costumes. No blood, no violence, no cross-dressing.

I just think that's strange.

Are they equating cross-dressing with blood and violence? Or, have too many kids in the past dressed up in a a way to be hurtful?

This is 5th grade.

It's an odd rule.

[wtmusic]

13. Agreed.

Might be worth a conversation with teach. Just to see where he/she's coming from.

[Richard Steele]

2. Ruh roh! So what happens to the kids dressed as HERMAPHRODITIC species like this:

[Blashyrkh]

3. Do you know many 10 year old that who would be "discriminated" by this?

I went to a dance in grade 7 where the closest you could dance to a girl was the distance between your elbow and the tips of your fingers. Schools have lots of dumb rules.

[KittyWampus]

4. More info or are you just throwing stuff out there?

[Beausoir]

6. Edited because I am a too touchy.

I thought it was really odd that my son's elementary school forbade cross-dressing as a Halloween costume.

It seems to be an odd rule.

It makes me wonder why they made such a rule.

Did too many 5th graders come cross-dressed in the past? Were they cross-dressed in such a way as to be hurtful to others.

You did get the 5th grade part...right?

[KittyWampus]

27. It's worth asking the school admin why. In some cultures, cross-dressing is a significant

part of masquerading. Usually societies that have a strong machismo ethos. Think- Hispanic.

[rwheeler31]

5. What is crossdresing? Why would they be worried about it?

[Beausoir]

7. That's my point. I know what cross-dressing is. I just wonder how it applies to 5th graders.

[Zookeeper]

8. Wow, that's a new one for elementary school...

I can only guess that either some fundie (Christian or Muslim) parents found the idea offensive, or there was a concern that it would be construed as making fun of cross-dressers. In my neck of the woods, it would be the former, but it hasn't been an issue so far.

When my now-middle-school age kid was in elementary school, the last year that any of the kids wore costumes was third or fourth grade.

Please update us if you ever hear a reason for that costume rule.

[Rhythm and Blue]

9. Probably a few members of the Foley branch of the Republican Party

didn't like how seeing dolled-up 5th-grade boys made them feel.

[orleans]

17. they stopped wearing costumes in third or fourth grade? wow--my daughter

and friends wore costumes all through high school. maybe not in full costume, but they all dressed up and went trick-or-treating through junior or senior year.

[Zookeeper]

18. I was just referring to wearing costumes to school...

My eldest son stopped trick or treating around the 7th grade, but my other two will probably still be roaming the neighborhood for Halloween candy handouts until they're 30 or so. :P (Middle kid is in H.S. and she's been talking about her costume for weeks.)

[TahitiNut]

10. Well, there goes the plan to do the "Rocky Horror Picture Show"

:shrug:

[XemaSab]

12. That little boy who came into the costume store today is going to be SO SAD!

And that cheerleading skirt and gogo boots were SO cute on him! :cry:

[On the Road]

14. When I Was 12,

the kid next door and I were going to dress up as Mom and Pop. He suggested I be Mom, which I thought was a riot. But my parents panicked when I tried to borrow one of my mother's bras. I can imagine what the small-town school would have thought.

My knowledge of sex was fragmentary, much less cross-dressing. It was a huge mystery to me.

[SeattleGirl]

15. Sheesh. My dad, a dyed in the wool Repuke, dressed up as a

woman for his scout troops' Halloween party. I did his makeup.

Believe me, my dad was not a "girlie girl"; he just thought it would be fun to dress up that way.

People need to lighten up.

[charlie]

19. No kidding

My neighbor friends had fun parents, who switched genders every Halloween. Every kid would squeal and howl when the porcupine-hairy, blue bearded dad came gallumphing out with the candy bowl in a wig, sun dress, and overstuffed bumper-bullet bra. The pecksniffs need to quit projecting their warped psyches into everything and let the rest of us enjoy a laugh once in a while.

[orleans]

16. here's a couple thoughts i have on this

first, if a boy showed up in "costume" as a girl chances are he would be exaggerating female characteristics for the sake of parody rather than dressing up as a girl to tell the world that there is a girl trapped inside him. or..it wouldn't be a cross-gender statement as it would be making fun of girls/females (and in my experience at costume parties when hetero males cross-dress they tend to look like a film version of a cheap hooker). and girls cross dressing could also be exaggerating male stereotypes. maybe the teacher thinks it would be sexist?

i wonder if that's what they are trying to prevent? and it's just a bit awkward to tell the kids not to dress like prostitutes?

then, on the other hand, if a boy showed up as tinkerbell chances are the teachers don't want to spend all day telling the other kids not to pick on him or make fun of him?

ask the teacher. i'm curious now--

[Zookeeper]

20. I think you're on to something with your first point....

5th grade boys in costumes "acting like girls" could end up being pretty sexist and insulting and I don't know that their female classmates would know how to challenge that. It could be hurtful to girls who are already entering a fairly insecure age.

Edited for past bedtime typo.

[Beausoir]

26. That was my husband's take on it. Boys showing up with huge boobies.

But sheesh....in 5th grade?!

[bridgit]

21. you mean i *can't* go as The FedEx Pope?

:cry:

[Zookeeper]

22. OK, slightly off-topic, but my daughter always goes trick or ....

treating with the same group of friends. One of her friends always makes a point of coming up with a costume that is guaranteed to offend most of our neighbors. One year it was the dead Pope. Another year it was Jesus. (He is Chinese-American, BTW. :D )

It always draws out a true Minnesotan response. No one ever complains or acts outraged, but as the candy gets passed out, he is conveniently overlooked and the door is quickly shut.

:rofl:

[WinkyDink]

23. What perverted adult mind thought to add this? As if a little girl dressed as, say, Emmett Kelly is

"cross-dressing".

Dame Edna laments for her possums.

[kath]

33. Agree - my daughter dressed as Merlin and won a prize in the costume contest at our Medieval Fair

one year. She was cute as hell, about 8 years old. Grey wig with long beard, cape, hat, crystal ball, the whole works. I wonder where those photos are...

but schools would forbid this.
Sheesh. :eyes: :eyes:

[Canuckistanian]

24. They don't want kids to catch teh gay

And parents could sue if their boy doesn't want to play football any more.

[The Straight Story]

25. 1st graders here in Bakersfield - no halloween costumes allowed at all

spoilsports....

[KittyWampus]

28. that's a shame. Masquerading is an important part of being human. It's a healthy outlet

[Zookeeper]

29. That's sad. What reason does the school give for that....

policy?

[kath]

35. Because Halloween is Satanic and EEEEE-VUL, don'cha know.

[Coexist]

30. no Halloween costumes allowed here either, they do a "character parade"

where the kids can dress up as their favorite character from a book.

[JuniperLea]

31. Cross dressing costumes are an artform!

That's just sad. I just keep thinking of all the great actors who have cross-dressed on stage and film. It's a classic bit! So sad to see it become something less than artfull.

[Cha]

32. Fuck..that would have meant my

son in grade school couldn't have been the cute little old lady he was and so real he was helped across the street on the way to see me at my work in La Jolla, 1977..and my daughter couldn't have been the Pirate she was..ArRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRG, Mateys!

HELP!

[Lurking Dem]

34. I guess none of them are going as Rudi Guiliani.

[NYCGirl]

36. No, that would be far too frightening to the other children. NT

[krispos42]

37. So the boys can go as Ann Coulter?

:rofl:

[BlackVelvet04]

38. Boys could always claim they aren't t really cross-dressing

but doing a Quintilian imitation.

[burythehatchet]

39. Dayum. I cross-dressed on halloween every year until I was like 20

It was always huge fun. And now I don't possess any women's clothing at all; where did I go wrong?:shrug:

[mmonk]

40. Reminds me of when I was a kid and a buddy of mine

was dressed up as an elderly lady. I guess America is getting more retentive now since that was in the early sixties.