• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

I really should read my own blog.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

This really is a full service blog.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Open Thread: Fake Outrage Is *All* The GOP Has Left

Late Night Open Thread: Fake Outrage Is *All* The GOP Has Left

by Anne Laurie|  March 7, 202112:42 am| 100 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Popular Culture, Republican Stupidity

FacebookTweetEmail

Late Night Open Thread:  Fake Outrage Is *All* The GOP Has Left

(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)

Republicans have spent the past week complaining about their plastic potatoes not having secondary sexual characteristics and defending honor of evolutionary dead ends while Democrats argue how to best give Americans 2 trillion dollars, but its Democrats who are bad at politics.

— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) March 5, 2021


Qanon is the future of the party. The whole big money wing has faded into nothing. Even the evangelicals are only relevant insofar as they get on board with the nutbags.

— Tentin Quarantino (@agraybee) March 5, 2021

Funnily enough, I’ve been looking for — and failing to find — ‘jokes’ about Gender Neutral Barbie. Mattel actually brought out a line of multi-ethnic ‘Creatable World’ choose-your-own-presentation dolls, back in 2019, and I don’t remember one jeremiad about how seeing ‘she-male’ dolls at WalMart or Target was yet another sign of the fall of the American empire. Either toys in the girls’ aisles weren’t important enough to get upset over, or (my personal suspicion) the usual Wingnut Wurlitzer subjects didn’t feel the need for a Kulturkampf campaign right at that moment…

Late Night Open Thread:  Fake Outrage Is *All* The GOP Has Left 1

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Open Thread: Bad Guys
Next Post: COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday/Sunday, March 6-7 »

Reader Interactions

100Comments

  1. 1.

    Anotherlurker

    March 7, 2021 at 12:46 am

    It has been a very good day.

  2. 2.

    karen marie

    March 7, 2021 at 12:47 am

    Wut?

  3. 3.

    Martin

    March 7, 2021 at 12:49 am

    Wait until the GOP latch onto the bill in CA that would ban boys/girls clothing sections in department stores. No idea if it has a chance of passing.

  4. 4.

    cain

    March 7, 2021 at 12:49 am

    @Anotherlurker: ​
     
    It sure was. Surprised we haven’t front paged that amazing maneuver by Schumer on the cloture vote to get Merrick Garland in.. he’ll get voted by the Senate further down.

    Those idiots spent ten hours on some stupid shit and then got tired and left leaving the senate to still have 2/3rd voting and Schumer pounced and got that and I think one other thing passed.

    Good call, Schumer! We are learning!

  5. 5.

    cain

    March 7, 2021 at 12:50 am

    @Martin: ​
     
    I’m curious as to what effect that would have. I don’t really care I guess – but I might feel irritated if I can’t find stuff.

  6. 6.

    TS (the original)

    March 7, 2021 at 12:54 am

    @cain:

    Try this one

  7. 7.

    HumboldtBlue

    March 7, 2021 at 12:54 am

    Outrage, racism, classism, religious intolerance and white supremacy, rejection not just of social norms but the abandonment of reason and common sense and simple decency.

    I don’t worry the Democrats will never do enough, I’m worried we’ll never get the chance to keep the ship afloat this time around.

  8. 8.

    Jerzy Russian

    March 7, 2021 at 1:08 am

    Why is Beaker in that cartoon? I haven’t kept up with any of this.

  9. 9.

    Redshift

    March 7, 2021 at 1:09 am

    I frequently use the Twitter hashtag #AllRepublicanOutrageIsFake (because it is), but it never seems to catch on. Too long, I guess.

  10. 10.

    Gravenstone

    March 7, 2021 at 1:12 am

    Anyone else hear the voice of Don Rickles as Potatohead in the first cartoon? No, just me?

  11. 11.

    Redshift

    March 7, 2021 at 1:13 am

    @Jerzy Russian: Wingnuts are outraged that some episodes of the original Muppet Show (now on Disney+) have warning messages before them. I think they’ve declared that’s “cancelling,” too, somehow. I don’t expect their crap to make any sense.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 1:17 am

    In space no one can see your genitalia.

    ;)

  13. 13.

    SectionH

    March 7, 2021 at 1:23 am

    @Martin: I had to process this for a while. If I had to guess, it would be like, better quality = boys, so… and that IS so true about a lot of clothes. It’s a beyond-stupid bill of course.

  14. 14.

    Chetan Murthy

    March 7, 2021 at 1:24 am

    @SectionH: I remember a woman writing once that men’s shirts were cheaper than women’s of the same size, but the buttons were on the opposite side.  That.  Was.  All.

  15. 15.

    JanieM

    March 7, 2021 at 1:27 am

    @Martin: Has anyone proposed outlawing gender reveal parties yet? Especially the kind where people get injured or killed by stray shrapnel?

    People are nuts.

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 1:28 am

    @Martin

    “The Sprats department is on the third floor.”

    ;)

  17. 17.

    Geoduck

    March 7, 2021 at 1:31 am

    @Jerzy Russian: Redshift beat me to it, but still..  Big Bird is the one that shouldn’t be there, particularly. One of the “vital issues” that the wingnuts have recently latched onto is that Disney has put The Muppet Show on Disney+, with some episodes including a very mild opening disclaimer about content. (Ethnic sterotypes, some of the jokes aimed at Miss Piggy, use of the Confederate flag in the Johnny Cash episode, that sort of thing.) THIS IS CANCEL CULTURE!

    And one episode is banned entirely, because the host of the week Chris Langham was eventually outed as a possessor of child pornography. (Langham was an unknown writer on the show at the time, and had to fill in after Richard Pryor failed to show up. Along with the.. ugh.. child porn problem, it’s a shame because Langham was very funny in the episode.)

  18. 18.

    Redshift

    March 7, 2021 at 1:38 am

    Either toys in the girls’ aisles weren’t important enough to get upset over

    Could be. Reminds me of when my niece was working at Hasbro a few years ago, and one of the mind-blowing about the company was the two divisions, “Toys” and “Girls’ Toys.”

  19. 19.

    patrick II

    March 7, 2021 at 1:39 am

    @NotMax

     

    In that little movie you linked to in the last thread, did you catch that Mitchum’s partner was Rockford’s dad?  Wallace Beery Jr.

  20. 20.

    Beautifulplumage

    March 7, 2021 at 1:43 am

    What I found most interesting is that fox et al spent the week obsessing over children’s shows/books/toys but no mention of what congress was actually getting accomplished.

    I realize they don’t want the democrats to get credit, but there was little right wing media oppo to the ARA. Not that I watch oann or newsmax or fox, I just experience them once removed via twitter.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 1:50 am

    @patrick II

    Yuppers. BTW, the subject of the film was about venereal disease – and was made to be shown not only to troops but also in civilian theaters as part of the pre-feature bill.

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 1:51 am

    @NotMax

    Oh, and it’s Noah Beery Jr.

  23. 23.

    patrick II

    March 7, 2021 at 1:54 am

    @NotMax:

    I haven’t heard the name in awhile and thought I should look it up — but got lazy.  My memory is not as sharp as it once was. At least I think I remember it once was.

  24. 24.

    Jerzy Russian

    March 7, 2021 at 2:01 am

    @Geoduck:    Thanks.  It sounds even dumber than I expected, if that is possible.

  25. 25.

    SectionH

    March 7, 2021 at 2:04 am

    @Chetan Murthy: Yeah, well, cheaper, AND lasted longer. I’ve never fit men’s jeans, sadly, but shirts are easy.. I mean, clothing, shoes, just the idea that you could find the same shoes you really liked again – that was what I paid attention to (esp when I started working retail.) The button-wrong thing was a way keep women’s shirts different, and of worse quality, cheaper fabric. Sound familiar?

  26. 26.

    Darkrose

    March 7, 2021 at 2:05 am

    @Chetan Murthy: Men’s clothes also have consistent sizing. Men’s jeans are waist/length. Women’s are ??? A size 16 in one store is a size 18 or a 14 in another. It’s infuriating.

  27. 27.

    Martin

    March 7, 2021 at 2:08 am

    @SectionH: I think it’s a combination of things. As noted by others, same clothes, different price. But also the basic gendering of clothing and enforcing those gender stereotypes by segregating them. Would also give a bit of incentive to clothes makers to make more non-gendered clothing. That’s particularly helpful with babies/infants and handing stuff down.

    So, not sure that bill is going anywhere, and I’m certainly not qualified to determine its necessity, but I’m fine with it and I’m sure conservatives will freak the fuck out over it.

  28. 28.

    Frankensteinbeck

    March 7, 2021 at 2:10 am

    This isn’t new, and it isn’t Q.  Remember wingnuts losing their shit over a commercial with the Star Spangled Banner being sung in other languages, way back during the Obama years?  Republicanism is bigotry, and they get more insane as the larger culture leaves them behind.  Trump made them hope they could be loud and proud.  They hate, hate, hate that there are consequences to stuff like racist art they think is hilarious and grew up on.  They don’t care about the economy.  They love sticking it to the libs by being assholes about masks and Covid.  What they care about is ‘cancel culture’, ie being publicly shamed for their assholery.

    The Barbie thing just didn’t catch their attention.  Mob psychology can only freak out about so many things at once.

  29. 29.

    AnotherBruce

    March 7, 2021 at 2:11 am

    So, the GQP creatures are doing nothing for $174,000 a year? They should do some honest work, like cleaning the restrooms at all night truck stops.

  30. 30.

    Martin

    March 7, 2021 at 2:14 am

    @Darkrose: And mens clothing carries multiple dimensions.  My  inseam isn’t going to change in my life, but my waist will. Every woman I’ve known has told me they’re a size x upper body, size y lower, or length or whatever.

    No wonder we have body image issues – heaven forbid your hips don’t match your shoulders.

  31. 31.

    mrmoshpotato

    March 7, 2021 at 2:20 am

    Isn’t being enraged about stupid shit exhausting, you Trump-humping RWNJs?

    I ask because I’m exhausted over all of the stupid shit you work yourselves into a tizzy over.

    Yes, preaching to the choir.  I just had to say it.  Good night.

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    March 7, 2021 at 2:21 am

    I hate Gibson. They raised the prices on Epiphone’s 335-type semihollow electric guitars – the Dot and the ES-335. Now the Dot has gone from RM1,50 to RM1,900, the ES-335 from RM1,850 to RM2,400, and the budget 335-type guitars from other makers are all sold out. I hate Gibson for thwarting the fulfillment of my GAS.

  33. 33.

    Chetan Murthy

    March 7, 2021 at 2:25 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    the fulfillment of my GAS

    Can Guitar Acquisition Syndrome ever truly be fulfilled?

  34. 34.

    SectionH

    March 7, 2021 at 2:27 am

    @Darkrose: Well, yeah. If I grab one of the Unisex T’s I ‘ve dealt with – for real, Gildan and Fruity Wombie and the H one are all t-shirt makers and their sizes are over the place. You can’t rely on any of them. LATs – all women’s are pretty nice all over the place too, depending on the year they were made.
    Otoh, How is this different from every other clothes experience American women have had?

    I think it’s because men are all kinda shaped the same way. And women aren’t.

  35. 35.

    SectionH

    March 7, 2021 at 2:30 am

    @Martin: Or vice versa.

    Believe me, it’s easier to hem your trousers than most any other job about clothes I can think of, and I still use vintage 1978 Singer sewing machine.

    But I think you have women in your life whom you listen to… so I’m smiling.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 2:30 am

    @Amir Khalid

    There are guitars and then there are guitars.

    :)

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    March 7, 2021 at 2:34 am

    @Chetan Murthy:
    Of course it can. All it takes is one more guitar … ​

  38. 38.

    Edmund Dantes

    March 7, 2021 at 2:34 am

    @cain: and some commenters a are super super concerned if we reformed the filibuster to make it so the minority has to actually worry and carry all the wait that the GOP will go hog wild with them even more so than they do with the painless filibuster.

     

    hmmm…

     

     

    p.s. for those that are “learn your history of your filibuster”. Do me a favor go find how long vote a ramas normally last under reconciliation. By design they rarely happen more than once or twice a year. A time when senators can bring amendments up with no official end in sight until the senators get tired of bringing them up.

    We should cower in our boots at that prospect of the GOP holding the floor for weeks on end while their colleagues can just send themselves home to fundraise, relax, campaign, etc while keeping 4-6 rotating senators to occasionally pop in and go “are there 40 plus senators sustaining debate?”

  39. 39.

    Cameron

    March 7, 2021 at 2:34 am

    I don’t get you people at all.  You’re actually OK with a plastic potato claiming a different gender than the one God assigned it at birth?  Have you no decency?  At long last, have you no decency?

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 2:37 am

    Ack. Linky fix.

    @Amir Khalid

    There are guitars and then there are guitars.

    :)

  41. 41.

    Poe Larity

    March 7, 2021 at 2:39 am

    I just found out Oakland banned leafblowers a month ago! How did Hannity not get that memo? What will we do with all these leaves? Are Biden’s invaders bringing their rakes?

  42. 42.

    billcinsd

    March 7, 2021 at 2:45 am

    Hey, at least they weren’t complaining about Eleanor Roosevelt Barbie

  43. 43.

    Amir Khalid

    March 7, 2021 at 2:50 am

    @NotMax:
    I’m not really in the market for an acoustic gun. ​

  44. 44.

    NotMax

    March 7, 2021 at 2:59 am

    @Amir Khalid

    Hey, it takes place near the end of the Civil War. They didn’t have a lot of choice.

    ;)

  45. 45.

    opiejeanne

    March 7, 2021 at 3:15 am

    @cain: Adam scooped all of the media on Schumer’s clever cloture vote on Garland. For at least a couple of hours after we found out about it, there was nothing about Garland coming up when we searched for it on Google, except for stories that were 5 days old. mr opiejeanne was the one who realized it and he’s still laughing about BJ getting the scoop.

  46. 46.

    Chetan Murthy

    March 7, 2021 at 3:20 am

    @opiejeanne:

    Adam scooped all of the media on Schumer’s clever cloture vote

    Between Adam, Cheryl, AL, and BC, I don’t bother to go anyplace else (well, ok, LG&M) for “policy news”, whether domestic, foreign, or ‘Rona.  B-J, your one-stop shop!  I still have a WaPo subscription, but mostly b/c I feel like somebody’s gotta pay for decent national journalism, might as well be me.

  47. 47.

    opiejeanne

    March 7, 2021 at 3:28 am

    @Martin: In 1988 I went shopping for our daughters, ages 5 & 9, for a vacation. We went to Sears and there were no jeans for girls except for one pair for “chubby girls” that wasn’t the right size for either girl, and they were quite frankly very ugly. So we went to the boys’ section and picked out some acid-washed jeans, and asked if the girls could try them on. The clerk was a young man, maybe 19, and he nearly had a conniption fit.

    “Ma’am, these are BOYS’ jeans!”

    I shrugged, “So?”

    They fit perfectly, looked great on them, and the girls were happy. I still wonder about why that was so upsetting for that clerk, that little girls might wear boys’ clothing.

    It was a train vacation, from LA to Glacier National Park with stops in Seattle, SF, and Santa Barbara.

  48. 48.

    opiejeanne

    March 7, 2021 at 3:30 am

    @Chetan Murthy: Also, Men’s suits used to come with alterations at no extra charge. Women’s clothing did not.

  49. 49.

    opiejeanne

    March 7, 2021 at 3:34 am

    @patrick II:  Noah Beery, jr was Rockford’s dad. He’s Wallace’s nephew.

  50. 50.

    Morzer

    March 7, 2021 at 3:37 am

    Interesting piece on Big Bad Joe Manchin in the Atlantic:

    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/what-drives-joe-manchin/618208

     

    Over the past several years, Manchin has been deeply frustrated by the lack of action in the Senate. When he said that he didn’t care whether he won or lost in 2018, he probably meant it. He even considered running for governor again.

    But now the Senate is different. Manchin recently said, “We are going to make Joe Biden successful.” That sounds like a cryptic statement, but it’s not too hard to decipher if you look at Manchin’s record. He believes that the people put President Biden and a Democratic Senate in office to get bills passed.

    Manchin’s much-publicized commitment to keeping the filibuster rule may seem contrary to his desire to push through legislation. But I don’t think it is. The trend in the Senate is to make exceptions to the filibuster rule, rather than to eliminate it. If an essential bill comes along and Manchin wants it to pass, an exception can be carved out to fit the circumstances and get the job done.

  51. 51.

    opiejeanne

    March 7, 2021 at 3:48 am

    @Chetan Murthy:  Between BJ and Twitter* I almost always know what Rachel Maddow is going to talk about that evening, sometimes Lawrence too.

    *Carefully curated list of people I follow on Twitter. I still see trolls, because they’re everywhere, but I either mute or block them.

  52. 52.

    Ruckus

    March 7, 2021 at 4:14 am

    @opiejeanne:

    He didn’t like that he might be wearing the same jeans as a girl!

    I mean how could he go on living if he knew that there were girls wearing the same jeans as he was? Girls are icky doncha know?

    It is so asinine but it comes from a time when gender was very rigid, dad went to work in a suit and all females wore dresses. It’s the Donna Reed show, in real life. It’s bullshit of course….

  53. 53.

    Martin

    March 7, 2021 at 4:18 am

    @SectionH: But I think you have women in your life whom you listen to… so I’m smiling.

    Life goes a lot easier if you listen.

  54. 54.

    Gretchen

    March 7, 2021 at 4:24 am

    @Ruckus: when I was a kid in the 1950s men seemed like a different species.  They didn’t dress, act, or think like those I perceived as people -women and children.

  55. 55.

    Martin

    March 7, 2021 at 4:40 am

    So, the family detention policy is ending. The detention centers are being converted to processing. Families being processed will stay no more than 72 hours. Looks like unaccompanied minors will have a similar approach though with a check of the guardian if the minor has a destination, and the feds will work with non-profits to arrange travel, etc.

  56. 56.

    Chris T.

    March 7, 2021 at 5:36 am

    @opiejeanne: Though there were a couple of Rockford Files episodes (pilots?) where someone else played his dad…

  57. 57.

    prostratedragon

    March 7, 2021 at 5:43 am

    Gaspard de la Nuit [The Night Custodian] by Maurice Ravel, performed by Stewart Goodyear:

    I. Ondine
    II. Le gibet
    III. Scarbo

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    March 7, 2021 at 6:00 am

    @cain:

    That was so slick and smooth???

  59. 59.

    rikyrah

    March 7, 2021 at 6:02 am

    @Martin:

    Elections matter

  60. 60.

    There go two miscreants

    March 7, 2021 at 6:42 am

    @Poe Larity: ​Oakland banned leafblowers

    On my way back in the time machine to kill Hitler, I’m going to stop off and kill the guy who invented leaf blowers.

  61. 61.

    There go two miscreants

    March 7, 2021 at 6:54 am

    They did come in handy during the recent protests though, so there’s that.

  62. 62.

    Wag

    March 7, 2021 at 7:32 am

    @Amir Khalid:   Sounds like GAS is similar to bicycle number rule. The correct number of bicycle (guitars) is N + 1, where N is the number of bicycles (guitars) that you currently own.  Or S – 1,  where S is the number of bicycles (guitars) that would cause your spouse to leave you.

  63. 63.

    Booger

    March 7, 2021 at 7:33 am

    Well I am very proud to say that I am still wearing the same size of jeans that I wore in High School; 34″ inseam. Top that!

  64. 64.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    March 7, 2021 at 7:36 am

    When you’re talking kids’ clothes, there’s little reason to divide them by gender. Pre-pubescent bodies are obviously less differentiated. So instead you wind up with pink t-shirts and Hello Kitty for girls and darker colors for boys. IOW, the clothes are doing the gendering rather than gender demanding the different clothes.

  65. 65.

    Uncle Cosmo

    March 7, 2021 at 7:51 am

    @opiejeanne: Men’s suits used to come with alterations at no extra charge. ​

    JFC, back in the day (i.e., a few years before I was born) men’s suits used to come with two pairs of pants[1] – they were considered everyday wear[2], and trouser cuffs and tukhis seat would wear out long before the jacket.[3]

    [1] “With someone you adore/ If you should find romance/ You’ll pant and pant once more/And that’s. A. Pair. Of. Pants.” (Allan Sherman, “One Hippopotami”)

    [2] “Business casual”–?!?! Was bedeutet dieser “business casual”??? Even lowly workingmen and laborers would change into whatever specialized clothing the job required and then at shift’s end change right back out into their (probably only, and likely marginally) presentable suit.

    [3] And does anyone recall “perfect menders”? Specialized but highly skilled tailors who could fix a hole or a tear in a suit so well it wouldn’t be noticed? …I didn’t think so…​​

  66. 66.

    evodevo

    March 7, 2021 at 7:55 am

    @opiejeanne: ​
      Yes. This. My husband watches Rachel religiously, and I have usually already posted on Facebook everything she is covering, earlier in the day, thanks to Raw Story and BJ… I’m not allowed to watch anymore, because I am saying stuff out loud on the topic before she says it – so now I go to my room and log into BJ while he watches in peace LOLOL

  67. 67.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    March 7, 2021 at 7:59 am

    Tentin Quarantino via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Qanon is the future of the party. The whole big money wing has faded into nothing. Even the evangelicals are only relevant insofar as they get on board with the nutbags.

    To be fair, Evangelicals are the GOP’s original nutbags – for example, Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority from 1979 to the late 1980’s.
    Between their media boycotts and their anti-gay, anti-feminist, and xenophobic rhetoric, Moral Majority was pretty much the original Cancel Culture too.

    ​
    ​

  68. 68.

    Ken

    March 7, 2021 at 8:07 am

    @Wag: Or S – 1,  where S is the number of bicycles (guitars) that would cause your spouse to leave you.

    Is there a way to find out S, other than by experiment?

  69. 69.

    Nicole

    March 7, 2021 at 8:14 am

    As the parent of a pre-pubescent boy, I have SO many thoughts on the way kids’ clothes are gendered, and none of them are complimentary.  Boys’ clothes are boring.  And the decisions made about style show little empathy for the reality of kids’ experiences.  “Girl” shorts are all short-shorts now, while “boy” shorts are all board-short length.  Neither are optimum for extended play time in hot weather.

    My husband and I made the decision early to tell our son that there weren’t boy clothes or girl clothes; you just like what you like, and while he clearly identifies as a boy (because, hmm… maybe gender identity and sexual preference is not something that society can decide for you, right?) his wardrobe is filled with unicorns and bright colors because wearing colorful stuff is fun.  I swear, I think it’s why superheroes continue to have such a hold on boys; it’s one of the few areas that society deems it “appropriate” for masculine characters to be wearing bright colors and cut an unusual silhouette.

    I also think it’s why sneakers are such big business; again, one of the few areas society says it’s acceptable for boys and men to display the kinds of colors and patterns that are all over girl’s/women’s clothing.

    And it’s a shame.  We have no problem with a girl wearing boy clothes, but the thought of a boy wearing “girl” clothes?  That says something really bad about how we view the value of girls vs boys.  Dorothy A Winsor is right; the clothes are dictating gender.  And it’s a good example of toxic masculinity being bad for the male gender, because we limit the range of young male expression and creativity when we tell them they can’t wear something because it’s “for girls.”

    Of course, the bill being proposed in California doesn’t apply to clothing, so while it’s a step in the right direction, it’s the tiniest of (gender neutral) baby steps.

  70. 70.

    J R in WV

    March 7, 2021 at 8:17 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Amir, my next-door neighbor restores guitars,  fiddles, etc, and sells them via a Facebook site…  perhaps he could help?

    He’s an interesting guy,  copy editor for a former great local paper now shrinking all the prize winners are gone now, paul’s just glad he can retire to his music and instruments soon.

  71. 71.

    J R in WV

    March 7, 2021 at 8:33 am

    @There go two miscreants:

    But… here in West Virginia we use leafblowers to fight forest fires ? and for many farm and forest procedures… not merely incessant lawn grooming and drive cleaning. Even snow blowing if it’s fluffy snow…

    Like so many things, there are good practices and poor ones. MO

  72. 72.

    Wag

    March 7, 2021 at 8:33 am

    @Ken:   Push N until S threatens to leave…

  73. 73.

    BellyCat

    March 7, 2021 at 8:44 am

    Age 50 when child was born (with “male” equipment) and child had always strongly identified as a “boy” (now 5) while maturing. Likes to play with girls and boys but generally prefers energetic play and toys that transform or have wheels. Skips the “pink” aisle in department store toy sections despite me trying to go down this with him. The toys are simply of no interest to him.

    Interesting to watch gender approaches of some other younger parents today. I’m totally supportive of LGBTQ interests, but honestly never really considered genderless upbringing.  We met a young child (age 2 or 3-ish) at the playground. Fun kid. Parents often ask each other how old their kid is to assess skills for co-play, so I asked, based on appearance and behavior of child, “How old is he?”  The response was, “We don’t use that word.” I was surprised. Got my first lesson on genderless pronouns for pre-schoolers. Lots of interesting questions to consider and some genuine musing over the pros and cons of withholding sexual identity to a developing child with lots of questions about why their sex organs are visible but their playmate’s sex organs are not. Do developing children benefit from some degree of gender identification or are they harmed by this? Dunno… I previously thought inclusive thinking and embracing diversity was a solid approach but hadn’t really contemplated gender denial.

  74. 74.

    Nicole

    March 7, 2021 at 9:08 am

    @BellyCat: We start gendering children from the time we know which sexual organs they have, in oodles of ways.  Some of them we’re not even aware of consciously doing.

    And we relabel things so as to not give in to the toxic masculinity-inspired fear of not being masculine “enough.”  As has been said before, boys play with dolls just as much as girls do; it’s just that their dolls are called “action figures.”

    That said, I think a one-size-fits-all approach to gender, even in not acknowledging gender is probably not the answer, either.  The keyword is diversity- diverse, lots of different ways of getting through this thing called life.  I have a few friends whose children (same cohort as my kid), despite having been referred to with gender pronouns corresponding to their sexual organs since birth, have, over the past few years, let their parents know they prefer “they.”  And their parents have been open and flexible and supportive.

    I think that’s the best we can do- let our kids have as much space as possible to explore their world, without us telling them something is for boys or girls.

  75. 75.

    debbie

    March 7, 2021 at 9:40 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Is that because of the previous administration’s tariff programs? If so, maybe they’ll be ending soon.

  76. 76.

    Flanders Other Neighbor

    March 7, 2021 at 9:54 am

    @Ken: I’m not aware of any.  It was bicycles for me for 20+ years, but now it’s motorcycles.  I ask the question, “Will she divorce me over this?”, and so far I’ve been lucky and the found the answer is no.

  77. 77.

    Subsole

    March 7, 2021 at 10:05 am

    They don’t worry about the barbie-kid thing for the same reason they don’t worry about “women” (trans men) competing in men’s sports.

    They’re not worried about accidentally fucking a female that looks like a male. The conservative obsession with trans people circles back to the conservative obsession with gays -complete and utter sexual insecurity.

    At least, that’s the men’s side. I am curious why so many women – particularly self-proclaimed feminists –  seem to be so hot about this. Particularly in England.

  78. 78.

    Subsole

    March 7, 2021 at 10:13 am

     

     

    @Cameron: “At long last”? Man, we been here.

  79. 79.

    BellyCat

    March 7, 2021 at 10:14 am

    @Nicole: I concur. Very young children benefit from structure in many areas. It helps them make sense of the world. As they age, their ability to shape and break these structures should be supported. Seems like the best we parents can do — show love regardless of desired choices.

  80. 80.

    The Moar You Know

    March 7, 2021 at 10:14 am

    but hadn’t really contemplated gender denial.

    @BellyCat:  Gender denial is as insane as gender insistence. We as a society are going to have a time navigating this, and in the bargain are going to have to learn some tolerance and acceptance for the many cultures worldwide that won’t agree with the way we do or see things.

  81. 81.

    H.E.Wolf

    March 7, 2021 at 10:15 am

    @BellyCat: …genderless pronouns for pre-schoolers…

    In 1972 this short story was published in the “Stories for Free Children” section of Ms. magazine.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X:_A_Fabulous_Child%27s_Story

    (I’ve always preferred the children’s book “William’s Doll”, published in the same time period, with a grandfather modeling non-toxic masculinity.)

    It’s interesting how societal fashions go in cycles. Everything old is new again. :)

  82. 82.

    dnfree

    March 7, 2021 at 10:23 am

    @SectionH: I. Think it’s because clothes have become so “gendered” that some young people like to wear gender-neutral clothes that could be found in either department, and some kids actively like to wear the clothes associated with the other gender (or more). Having all the clothes together would make that easier, rather than having to invade the “other” department.

    I grew up in the fifties, and I wore the same jeans my brothers did. Boys’ jeans.

  83. 83.

    laura

    March 7, 2021 at 10:37 am

    @Wag: So you’re familiar with my spouse….. we currently have only 2 bicycles in the living room – the least number since as long as I can remember 3 in the backroom and 5 or 6 in the garage

    Also, too, life long love of men’s wear and I credit auntie Suzi who rocked the Clark’s desert boot since back in the 50’s.

  84. 84.

    moonbat

    March 7, 2021 at 10:40 am

    I always liked Eddie Izzard’s response when someone asked him why he was wearing women’s clothes. He said. “These aren’t ‘women’s clothes’, these are my clothes. I bought them. They belong to me.”

  85. 85.

    BellyCat

    March 7, 2021 at 10:42 am

    @Flanders Other Neighbor: Solid agreement on the topics at hand, but… ¿Por qué no los dos?

  86. 86.

    Uncle Cosmo

    March 7, 2021 at 10:54 am

    @J R in WV: ​But… here in West Virginia we use leafblowers to fight farce fars

    Fixed that fer ya!

    (signed, Son of Redneck Refugees from Marion County WV)

  87. 87.

    BellyCat

    March 7, 2021 at 11:01 am

    Kids clothing solution: One department arranged in rainbow fashion. Let the wingnut tears flow…

  88. 88.

    germy

    March 7, 2021 at 11:01 am

    The image all those right-wing influencers were sharing of the original Lola Bunny is actually pornographic fan art. Whoops!  https://t.co/h5y0OMsAw8 pic.twitter.com/D1TMrAadmK

    — Ryan Broderick (@broderick) March 6, 2021

  89. 89.

    Uncle Cosmo

    March 7, 2021 at 11:03 am

    @Wag: ​Just for the halibut, are you familiar with Avram Davidson’s “Or All the Seas with Oysters” – ? (If not, here’s a PDF)

    SPOILER ALERT
    SPOILER ALERT
    SPOILER ALERT

    The earth is being invaded by an alien race whose larval stage is identical to paper clips, pupal stage is identical to coathangers, and adult stage is identical to bicycles. No one knows it, but the story’s protagonist gradually understands what’s going on & confides in his friend, the narrator – who then finds him strangled by a coathanger wrapped around his neck.

  90. 90.

    Flanders Other Neighbor

    March 7, 2021 at 11:07 am

    @BellyCat: Indeed, but I think I finally settled on the dirt and road bikes that will serve me for a long, long time, so now it’s older/old motos that I can fix up to be looking like they are only a year or so old.  You never get your money back on that sort of thing.

    My wife is a good sport.  I should probably buy her some flowers while I’m out later.

  91. 91.

    Ken

    March 7, 2021 at 11:13 am

    @Uncle Cosmo: Fritz LIeber’s “The Man who Made Friends with Electricity” is similar in some ways, including the unfortunate end met by the protagonist.

  92. 92.

    germy

    March 7, 2021 at 11:13 am

    Here’s to thousands of Twitter people who haven’t seen Speedy Gonzales in 20 years but have convinced themselves he was cancelcultured by the “woke mob.”

    — Roy Edroso (@edroso) March 7, 2021

  93. 93.

    brantl

    March 7, 2021 at 11:16 am

    @Gravenstone: Him, or Gilbert Gottfried.

  94. 94.

    burnspbesq

    March 7, 2021 at 11:30 am

    @Amir Khalid: 

    Go on reverb.com and order it from a dealer in the U.S.

  95. 95.

    BellyCat

    March 7, 2021 at 11:38 am

    @The Moar You Know: Gender denial is as insane as gender insistence.

    This parallels my initial thoughts because the parents seem to be assigning mature decisions to an immature child. But IANACP (I am not a child psychologist) so what do I know. I thought maybe I had become an unintentional relic of (imaginary) halcyon days past.

  96. 96.

    burnspbesq

    March 7, 2021 at 11:38 am

    There is ALWAYS a new guitar to lust after.

    https://youtu.be/BQ8cPkimcnA

  97. 97.

    BellyCat

    March 7, 2021 at 11:42 am

    @Flanders Other Neighbor: Surely your wife would appreciate a vintage moto more than flowers, right? Lol…

  98. 98.

    dnfree

    March 7, 2021 at 11:49 am

    @Uncle Cosmo: I love that story, and I mention it any time someone makes a casual reference to having so many hangers, or safety pins, or whatever, that they wonder where they came from. This doesn’t happen nearly often enough.

  99. 99.

    StringOnAStick

    March 7, 2021 at 12:29 pm

    @J R in WV: I have an electric leaf blower/vacuum that I use only once or twice a year, depending on how fast the leaves fall; chips them up.nicely for bagging.

    At our prior home we had a neighbour who used his huge gas powered one every two days on a yard the size of a typical living room, and spent hours doing it.  At least it drowned out the hate radio he would do generously share at high volume all day.  So, so glad we moved…

    Now we have a group of teens practicing Hawaiian music in a garage every Monday evening; love it, love the neighbourhood.

  100. 100.

    Kayla Rudbek

    March 7, 2021 at 1:52 pm

    @There go two miscreants:  go get Thomas Midgley Jr. (invented leaded gas and CFCs) and keep Wallace Carothers alive (invented nylon and neoprene) while you are at it

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • rikyrah on Monday Morning Open Thread: Keep Fighting (As If We Had A Choice) (Jun 5, 2023 @ 10:26am)
  • RA on A Couple Weeks Into the Diet (Jun 5, 2023 @ 10:26am)
  • Eolirin on Monday Morning Open Thread: Keep Fighting (As If We Had A Choice) (Jun 5, 2023 @ 10:25am)
  • NotMax on Monday Morning Open Thread: Keep Fighting (As If We Had A Choice) (Jun 5, 2023 @ 10:24am)
  • Matt McIrvin on Monday Morning Open Thread: Keep Fighting (As If We Had A Choice) (Jun 5, 2023 @ 10:23am)

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Seattle Meetup on Sat 5/13 at 5pm!

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Classified Documents: A Primer
State & Local Elections Discussion

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Twitter / Spoutible

Balloon Juice (Spoutible)
WaterGirl (Spoutible)
TaMara (Spoutible)
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
ActualCitizensUnited

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!