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.