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.
The days weeks and months slip by. One Saturday afternoon, Peter is out with his friends whilst his mother spends the afternoon reading the paper with Radio 4 on in the background. On hearing an article about the genderquake being introduced, she puts down her paper and turns up the volume….
Presenter: “it was barely three years ago when John Lewis’ introduced their first range of dresses for boys, bringing the trend out of the backstreet boutiques of the larger cities to the high streets of towns and cities of all sizes … we’ve been speaking to the marketing director of Debenhams, who’s a new TV ad campaign for their new range of boy’s dresses has already caused controversy … ”
Guest: “It’s simple economics, little girl’s no longer dream of being a princess, they want a career, a house, a car, children, and a husband. We’ve all seen it in our daughters and nieces for decades, they’re just not interested in being pretty anymore! Ask yourself, when was the last time a little girl wanted a My Little Pony, a Tinker Bell duvet cover or a Disney Princess DVD? If anybody can remember those things. … The fact of the matter is, we have dresses, we know how to make dresses and I think as a society, we like dresses … they’re not going away … what I’m trying to say is … now that girls, on the whole, don’t wear dresses, it makes perfect economic sense to market them to the boys instead .. and nobody can argue that they’re not catching on.”
Presenter: “What started in the children’s department is now, albeit slowly, making its way to the men’s department, with skirts, frocks, heels, and hosiery now widely available in, amongst others; Burton, Top Man, Greenwoods… sales are reportedly and understandably slow.” … “Do you think it’s too much for most men? Is this why sales of such items are practically nonexistent?”
Guest: “Of course it’s too much for most men… today. But in spite of the rumors that ‘all boys hate dresses’ and ‘it’s their mother’s playing dolls’, many boys love their dresses, they love being pretty, and those boys are going to grow up, so it’s essential that Debenhams and the chains you’ve mentioned are there for them.”
Presenter: “so, the future… in say fifty or eighty years’ time, do you think boys will be playing with dolls and dreaming of being a princess?”
Guest: “ Well they’ll certainly be playing with dolls because that’s essential for learning child care… dreaming of being a princess? … a prince maybe, but it’ll be a prince in a beautiful long gown with long gorgeous hair waiting for a princess to come to his rescue.”
Presenter: “Total role reversal?”
Guest: “Exactly.”
Presenter: “Well that concludes Weekend Woman’s Hour for this week, I’d like to thank Jayne Peterson of Debenhams. We’ll be back at 10 am on Monday when we hear from Laura who’s part of a dying breed: the girlie girl.”
As Peter’s birthday neared, he got more and more excited about becoming a teenager… thirteen sounds so much cooler than boring old monosyllabic twelve. However, his enthusiasm ebbed when his mother told him that she’d decided the time was right to buy him his first dress. “But I don’t want a dress mum… you know I hate dresses.”
“But lots of boys wear dresses, Peter… you want to fit in don’t you?” his mother argued.
“No, they don’t.” Peter insisted, knowing full that those who did wear dresses were a definite minority.
“Oh come on Peter you know they do… you said yourself that there are three boys in your class who wear skirts.”
“Yeah, and like ten others who don’t.” Peter insisted.
“And next term it’ll be five against eight, then half and half. The way things are going, this time next year you’ll probably be the only one left if you wore trousers,” she explained.
“What do you mean if I wore trousers?”
His mother became a little nervous and made a few false starts. “Well… once you er… erm… well…” she stopped and started again. “What I’m trying to say is, once you’ve got used to wearing dresses…”
“I promise you… I won’t!” Peter insisted.
“Of course you will,” she replies. She then goes on to explain about some of the articles she’s read. “Now I’m not saying this is going to be easy, and I understand why you’re fighting it. Any boy would. But you have to understand that it’s a women’s world now… we wear the trousers.”
“But why should that mean that I have to become a girl?” Peter retorted.
“You’re not becoming a girl love… the roles are reversing… now it’s your turn to be pretty.” she smiles. “And believe me Peter, it’s nowhere near as bad as you think it is.”
“I’m sure it will be.”
“Well you’ll never know until you’ve tried.” his mother smiled. She made him a drink and placed it on the coffee table for him. She picked up one of her magazines, flicked through it, and found ‘the page’ then passed it to Peter. “I know you won’t like any of them, but have a flick through anyway… see if there’s a best of the bad bunch eh?”
The images in front of Peter horrified him. Dresses for boys his age are like dresses for how girls used to be; all frills and ruffles and lace and bows. Page after page he went, hating each and every one of them. As a result, he offered his mother no help in choosing his first dress.
It was three days before Peter’s birthday when his mother proudly stated that she’d bought him his first dress. He tried his best to get out of trying it on, but his mother insisted, claiming that if it was the wrong size she’d have to take it back. So reluctantly Peter wore the dress, hoping with all his being that it would be the wrong size and therefore returned.
“That’s perfect.” his mother said, stepping back and looking him up and down. “How does it feel?”
Peter looked down at himself, clad in pink satin with a big white bow. “Horrible. Can I take it off?” he asked. “Pleeease,” he added. His mother said he had to try his new shoes first, and much to his displeasure presented him with a pair of pink satin pumps and thin white ankle socks.
Once fully dressed, his mother stepped back and smiled at him lovingly. “You’re going to look so nice on Sunday,” she said, before planting a white ribbon on his head.
Peter gulped and looked at his reflection. “I’m not wearing this on Sunday mum,” he said. “It’s my birthday and all my friends…”
“…will be wearing dresses too.” his mother interrupted.
“No they won’t! None of my friends wear dresses!” he insisted.
“Peter darling… I put a dress code on the invites stating that boys must attend wearing party dresses.”
Peter claims she’s going to ruin his life, that none of his friends will come and they’ll think he’s turning girlie… but his mother tells him that Simon’s mother and John’s mother have already replied, and they will be attending in dresses, as will his cousins James and Michael, and Nigel from down the road.
“But, I don’t want to wear a dress mum… you know I don’t… and definitely not a pink one!”
“You’re thirteen Peter and you’ll wear what you’re told to young man!” she insisted. “Times are changing and it’s high time you started dressing your gender.” she spouts. “When was the last time you saw a girl wearing a dress?”
“Loads of girls wear dresses,” Peter replied as he pondered his mother’s question. “Like er…” he visualized all the girls in his class, “Joanne King,” he said, knowing she was the only girl who still wore a skirt, and the other girls give her grief for it.
“Well she may well still wear a skirt for school, but does she wear dresses too?” his mother asked.
Peter hung his head. “Maybe.”
“Peter,” she said calmly, placing her hands on his shoulders and thumbing the satin sleeves. “I understand that you’re instinctively fighting this… but the fact of the matter is boys, wear dresses these days… you only have to walk into any department store to work that out.”
Peter slumps on his bed and is warned by his mother not to crease his dress. He asks if he can take it off and she lets him. He pulls on his pants and t-shirt as his mother puts his dress on a hanger and places it in his wardrobe. From that moment on, Peter dreads his rapidly approaching birthday and the dress he’ll be wearing for the party.