Over the course of the next six months, Peter’s mother takes more of an interest in the genderquake, and its potential consequences for her son. She’d read articles about changing trends in magazines; about men becoming the underdog, boys becoming like girls used to be, and the future of the male role in both society and the home. One article, in particular, grabbed her attention; Putting Boys in Dresses the Easy Way, which described a variety of approaches. Lower him in slowly with the occasional Sunday dress, present a routine with a skirt for school and ‘traditional’ boy clothes the rest of the time, or throw them in at the deep end and take away all of their old-boy clothes. The article concluded by weighing up the pros and cons of the different methods, but stressed the necessity clearly enough, an uninitiated boy will never find a decent wife to support him.
Peter and his mother are shopping and notice the mannequins of boys wearing dresses in shop window displays are becoming more and more ubiquitous. They go into a department store and notice that the boy’s department is now half dresses, and the girl’s department has only a tiny selection of skirts and frocks. It hardly seems like a year since the first small selection of dresses for boys was introduced to the high street.
“Why are we going down here?” Peter asks as his mother takes him into the dress section of the boy’s department. She insists it’s just for a look, and that he just might see one he likes. He insists he won’t, but that doesn’t stop her from holding a few against him.
An assistant approaches and knowingly asks if they’re shopping for his first dress. His mother says they just looking. Peter says he doesn’t want one and draws her attention to the new pair of jeans and t-shirts he’s got. The assistant smiles and says and in a friendly, diplomatic manner that it won’t be too long before he’d have to go to the girl’s department for those… “And you wouldn’t want to buy clothes from the girl’s department would you?” she smiles, before pointing out a candy pink Lolita dress and telling his mother that this is a good ‘starter’.
“Yes, so I understand.” his mother replies. “It is very nice… but also very expensive.. especially since he doesn’t like dresses,” she adds. Peter is relieved to finally leave the store with just his new jeans and t-shirts… but is becoming increasingly worried about the future.
