“It reminds me of when those skin-tight jeans first came into fashion.” my aunt said as she and mum sat bemused in front of the TV. “Or deelie boppers.” she added with a grin.

“What are deelie boppers?” I asked.

Mum described the novelty headband to me and I knew exactly what she was talking about. “We never thought they’d catch on either but they did,” she added, before turning back to the TV.

They were watching the local news program which reported on a protest outside one of the high street stores. The footage showed a small group of people holding homemade banners bearing the slogan ‘let boys be boys’ and chanting the same four words over and over. The scene cut to the interior of the store and showed racks of dresses and frocks on display… then my jaw dropped when the presenter began to speak. “This may look like any other high street store, but all is not as it seems like this…” he gestures to the display of frocks, skirts and dresses, “…is the boy’s department.”

“I think it’s scandalous.” my mother commented.

“I think it’s about time.” my aunt added before turning to me. “Would you like to wear a dress Peter?” she asked.

“No way!” I exclaimed. “Only girls wear dresses.”

“Maybe not for much longer.” she grinned.

Mum said it’d never catch on and her sister-in-law agreed, before saying something about girls having only worn trousers or pants for last hundred years or so. “Before that, I expect girls looked as strange in trousers and boys would in dresses.”

That was months ago and now there are more and more high street stores stocking the new trend in boy’s fashion. At first, they were tucked away in a discreet corner of the boy’s department, but now they’re in pride of place at the front of the boy’s department. The high street retailers are flat out promoting dresses for boys in both print and on TV, and far too many commercials on the children’s channels now feature boys wearing a variety of girlie styles including skirts, culottes, playsuits, and of course, dresses. One can easily point and laugh at the poor lads who feature in such advertisements. Even seeing the ‘boy’ mannequins in the shop windows clad in skirts, frocks, tights, and dainty little shoes wasn’t uncommon, although actually seeing a boy in real life wearing a dress or a skirt is a very rare sight. But it is certainly unsettling, especially when my mother says something positive in passing. I was happier when she claimed the whole thing to be scandalous.

As the weeks and months passed, the new fad began to make its way from the shop window displays and TV commercials onto the high street itself. My personal instinct was to point and laugh on the rare occasion one was spotted, but Mum told me that such behavior wasn’t nice. She rightly pointed out to me that the boys who do wear dresses or skirts would clearly rather not, and the miserable, mournful expressions on their faces confirmed this. It’s bad enough when my mum insists I wear a smart shirt or jumper I don’t like… so it must be awful for the unlucky boys whose mothers like the new fad of putting their sons in skirts and dresses.