It’s been at least a year, I think, since the last time Life & Style indulged in a hot steaming bath of Shiloh Panic, a word Autostraddle invented to describe “society’s response to non gender-conforming children.” Although we try to stay away from celebrity gossip and really anything about children, we feel Shiloh Panic is a serious issue in our community as it perpetuates some of the most damaging ideas about gender.
For starters, it seems patently obvious that the only people ridiculing Brad Pitt’s daughter are the editorial staff of Life & Style. I fear for Shiloh, too, but it’s not because of her haircut — it’s because of Life & Style‘s obsession with her haircut. It’s all quite meta, really.
Furthermore, in a magical move typical of celebrity rags, the magazine kills two sexist tropes with one stone: Angelina’s unable to mother because working women with ex-girlfriends clearly cannot take care of children and Shiloh is doomed because she wears clothes from the boy’s section. Those crazy Jolie-Pitts!
On the Life & Style website, the following is revealed:
Angelina Jolie was beaming as she and three of her kids shopped at the Studio City Farmers Market in LA on Jan. 22, but fellow shoppers couldn’t help but notice daughter Shiloh‘s new shorter-than-ever haircut.
In fact, one onlooker even mistook the adorable little girl for one of the Jolie-Pitt boys. “It was very chaotic,” Lynda Stenhouse, who was at the market, tells Life & Style. “She rushed by my section, but I did notice her skinny white legs and the commotion of the boys.”
Now, in the new issue of Life & Style, sources reveal that while the proud parents encourage their little girl to be independent, Brad is concerned about the scrutiny to which Shiloh is being subjected.
“It would crush Brad if one of his kids was picked on,” says a friend of Angie’s. And there’s reason for the parents to be on edge over Shiloh, caution experts. “This is a culture where kids get picked on if they don’t look like other kids,” points out psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert. “Shiloh’s already different — being the daughter of superstars — and she may already feel ostracized because of that.”
And while Brad, like any dad, is going to worry, he also knows he can’t change his little girl. “I want [my kids] to explore that innocence as long as possible and find out what’s really interesting to them,” he confides. “I just don’t want to encumber them in any way.”
There’s plenty to dissect in there, though I find the idea that her “shorter-than-ever” haircut is used as a trademark of impending deviance immediately hilarious. When she had short hair, that was one thing, but now that she has SHORTER hair, she’s basically Rosie O’Donnell! What the fuck?
Anyhow, before I continue this rant, let’s take a little trip back in time to the first time this happened, which was in early March, 2010. In response to this cover…
…we asked “at what point does media panic regarding Shiloh’s Radical Androgynous Haircut cross over into Officially Offensive Territory?” and suggested that the cover was an example of either transphobia or awesome-phobia (the latter because Shiloh’s tomboy style is fan-fucking-tastic and we’re super jealous of her access to such rad sneakers). We pointed out that although the print magazine industry is in trouble, Life & Style isn’t — their circulation numbers continue growing, presently hovering at about 4.9 million readers. These are the magazines you see at the dentist, hair salon, and on the floor in your shared dorm bathroom under someone’s Caboodles. These headlines are what children see when they’re waiting in line at the grocery store with their parents. This kinda actually really does indeed matter.
Anyhow, back in March, even GLAAD came out against the magazine cover and the horrifying article within:
“Life & Style is way off the mark with this outrageous coverage. Perpetuating gender stereotypes and targeting children for ridicule about the way they dress is unacceptable, regardless of their parent’s celebrity status. Media has a responsibility to differentiate between credible authorities and politically motivated (and usually self-proclaimed) ‘experts’ like Focus on the Family’s Glenn Stanton, who is not an expert on developmental issues or gender identity.”
The National Center for Transgender Equality noted that “the length of Shiloh’s hair or the clothes she wears are really matters for her and her parents to decide… what’s important here is that every child, including Shiloh, has the opportunity to express herself and explore her world in a way that is safe and nurturing for her.”
Life & Style, of course, wasn’t concerned:
“Life & Style‘s cover story ‘Why Is Angelina Turning Shiloh Into a Boy?’ presents experts speaking from all viewpoints in the debate over Shiloh’s new look, which immediately ignited controversy all across the media. The feature provides our readers with a comprehensive look inside one of the biggest entertainment news stories right now.”
So unconcerned, in fact, that they chose to do it AGAIN in September 2010:
One way in which all these covers fail so monumentally is that they all draw illogical conclusions from the evidence presented to them — it seems far more natural to assume that Shiloh herself wants short hair, sneakers and dinosaurs than it is to think her mother is burning Shiloh’s dresses and strapping Shiloh to a chair to hack her locks away with gardening shears.
Another way (more blatant in the earlier covers than in this week’s) is a much more common mistake — the idea that “tomboy” behavior is a strong indicator of sexuality or gender identity. C.Lynn Carr’s 2007 study “Tomboyism or Lesbianism? Beyond Sex/Gender/Sexual Conflation,” found that the fact that “a large majority of women recalled wanting to be boys (sex) in order to do things that boys got to do (gender) may be testament to the relative powerlessness of children, who are often told how to act and what they can and cannot do by peers, parents, and educators.” Other studies have shown that between 51% and 67% of adult women report childhood tomboy behaviors, so it’s hardly even notable.
Not that we care if Shiloh is queer or trans and I think it’s highly inappropriate to even speculate at this point. Right now she’s just a little girl who likes to keep her hair short, and these covers reinforce the idea that non-gender-conforming children are playing with fire AND that there is something inherently wrong with being trans or queer. I mean they don’t have to say it directly, we know what they’re getting at.
US Weekly captioned this photo "Shiloh Jolie-Pitt's adorable tomboy look is back!" which is a lot more like it
These covers are presenting the idea that Shiloh’s style will get her bullied while actively bullying Shiloh. Apparently when presented as “concern,” bullying is completely acceptable, a brand of hypocrisy we constantly see employed by anti-gay-rights activists as well.
It seems that if Life & Style is so concerned about how Shiloh will get treated by her peers during some ambiguous yet-to-be-realized future in which Shiloh will suddenly be surrounded by an entirely new peer group, they should look at why the world is so hostile to anything “different” or “out-of-the-ordinary” rather than directing the world’s attention to something “different.” What if the “problem” the magazine was freaking out about wasn’t going from dolls to dinosaurs but being overweight or poor or, you know, GAY?
So nice one, Life & Style. I pray no self-loathing suicidal gay teenager gets his or her hands on this piece of shit because the message you’re declaring is extremely loud and incredibly clear: it’s not the bullies that need changing, it’s the bullied. And that’s just plain wrong.
You can contact the people who make this shitty magazine if you so desire; the PR people for Life & Style are Lindsay Ferraro (twitter: @lindsay_ferraro, [email protected]) and Sarah Drabick ([email protected]) and the editor of Life & Style is Dan Wakeford ([email protected]).
Also also, are they not freaking out about the long hair on the other kid (is that Maddox? I don’t know)?
This whole thing makes me sick. I think you nailed it re: using “fears” as a way to bully. Spot-on.
Here here!
That’s Pax. And yes, I was going to say the exact same thing – Knox and Pax are cool with their long shaggy hair, BUT GOD FORBID THEIR SISTER LOOK MORE LIKE A BOY.
Hey, why is that magazine not freaking out over Pax’s? (or is it Maddox’s) long hair? And, is the littlest one the boy or girl twin?! Come on people, let’s freak out over ALL OF THE KIDS here.
I was about to say, I can’t tell if the littlest one there is the boy or the girl twin. But mostly my thought is, holy shit it’s one of the twins. You hardly ever see photos of them.
I prefer Shiloh Panic posts to other rage-inducing bullshit because at least there are pictures of Shiloh with her super-cool clothes as consolation.
i agree. i think shiloh and the whole fam are adorable humans and i will not buy that stupid magazine to see pictures but i will look on the interwebs all i want.
So now girls can’t even play with dinosaur toys??? Jesus. ::throws up hands in despair::
/girl with palaeontology degree
My six birthday party was dinosaur themed and I’m pretty sure it was my best birthday party ever. In fact I may just have to repeat that theme one of these years…
I just thought “NEXT BIRTHDAY PARTY”
…my 20th birthday was dinosaur themed. That is, I had chocolate cake with dinosaur toys stuck in the top. When we lit the candles, the icing melted and dinosaurs began to sink to their doom in chocola-tar.
In short, I advocate dinosaurs and boy haircuts for all the girls, Life and Style be damned.
That is *incredibly awesome*
Oh man, I used to think that would be me. :/ I loved dinosaurs, dug up “dinosaur bones”, watched paleontologist shows on PBS and wanted to be a paleontologist all through my childhood and into high school, where I learned about archaeology and got lured away. :B I still think wistfully about that alternate universe paleontologist me sometimes…
WHAT IS THIS. You just told the story of my life too! Well… if you add in the fact that I also wanted to be a pirate. It was paleontologist or pirate for years…
THIS! ME TOO! I used to explore and dig up my backyard, and also pretend to be a pirate (still do, in fact). I also wanted to be a florist at some point, which possibly explains why I’m now femme-as-fuck, though doesn’t explain my flower allergies. :/
Haha I think my main exposure to pirates when I was little was the Charlton Heston “Treasure Island”, and yeah, I DID want to hang with him. He was way cooler than Dr. Livesey. Oh! Also “Blackbeard’s Ghost”. Has anyone seen that? Love that movie.
Indeed. Also, all dinosaurs were male. Why did you think they died out?
She is freaking adorable, and I love that her parents (I hesitate to use the word “allow,” so…) are cool with it. In the world that is not illuminated by the constant flash of gossip-worthy-shot-hungry paparazzi, LOTS of little girls go through a tomboy stage. Duh. Some last, some don’t, who gives a shit.
Really, if my 3-7 year old life were to determine who I’d be as an adult… and I was, sadly, not a tomboy… yeah, the thought is kind of traumatic, so.
Btw, Kelsey! I am having feelings re: you and Shiloh bearing some uncanny resemblance to one another. Yes, I am totally having flashbacks to mini-child-Kelsey. Seriously though. Maybe it’s the cheeks.
Wait… there are people who did not play with dinosaurs?
First Legos were for boys and now girls can’t even play with dinosaurs! What sort of childhoods are they expecting kids to have these days?!
legos, hotwheels, and dinosaurs were my three favorite things as a child. Then again, I’m pretty sure I tried to eat dog food at some point, so what do I know about “normal” children :P
Ha! Are we the same person? legos, hotwheels, and dinos were/are my jams. Also def ate cat food on several occasions. Good times.
That was my childhood as well c’:
legos ftw 4ever
I KNOW. I loved legos and dinosaurs when I was little. …And Barbies and GI Joes… I was all-inclusive. The Barbies got ragged sock dresses and played in the mud. They were very outdoorsy and liberated.
Aw, that’s too bad. My parents held out for a while, but finally gave in when they realised we weren’t as interested in the guns as in the complicated outfits and poseable bodies. GI JOES COULD CLIMB TREES. xD
my mother was the epitome someone enforcing gender stereotypes- only dresses, jewelry, dolls, barbies. absolutely no dinosaurs, cars, etc. it’s kind of funny though because my brother grew up and came out as trans* and i’m a lesbian. guess it didn’t really matter that much!
word! we had a whole dinosaur unit in first grade, where a guest paleontologist came in and we made dinosaur models, and everyone, girls and boys, were so excited!
I had a haircut pretty similar to that when I was a kid. Then again, I did turn out super queer, so…
Haha, yeah, I was thinking, ‘Okay hang on, I totally chose a haircut like that when I was little and dressed like my brother and played with Lego and now I’m totally……. oh, definitely gay. Hm.”
BUT I’m also super femme now, so there you go.
I had a mullet-like cut at her age. Does that say something about me???
is it weird that i’m jealous of her hair?
As always, there is a relevant Andrea Gibson quotation for this situation:
“I can guarantee a haircut will never tell you anything about someone’s gender, who they love, or how they f*ck”
(In other words, I wish I’d been that cool as a kid.)
“This is a culture where kids get picked on if they don’t look like other kids,” points out psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert.
This must be the type of expert Life & Style are talking about. You know the ones using unregulated terms like “psychotherapist.”
Yeah, that quote bothered me through the whole article. Isn’t that every culture ever? That’s not a new thing, Alpert. What a braniac.
How about we just call them Addams and forget it? :)
“Not that we care if Shiloh is queer or trans and I think it’s highly inappropriate to even speculate at this point.”
Highly inappropriate. That’s all there really is to say on the entire matter.
I don’t even know what to do with this. Mostly I want to tell Life & Style to fuck off and leave the kid alone. She’s 5 years old for God’s sake.
I was a little princess when I was Shiloh’s age. I quickly morphed more tomboyish as a teenager, and am now not very gender conforming at all. If we took what I started off as though, and assumed it was who I’d be as an adult? You’d be very wrong. Leave kids alone media jerks, don’t make it look acceptable to bully different people.
Life & Style seems to have concern trolling down to an art form.
One of the most disturbing things to me is that people pay $2.99 for this piece of shit magazine.
There is irrefutable proof that short haircuts lead to lesbianism and it’s called NewTexan. I’d attach a pic if I had any clue how to do it. Short haircuts also lead to computer incompetence.
“It would crush Brad if one of his kids was picked on,” is a funny quote to use as they are, perhaps, the only ones picking on her right now. I’m not a fan of the “You’re just jealous” argument, but Life& Style is soooo jealous of Shiloh’s hustle, you can tell.
The other two are Knox & Pax.
Who knows maybe Shiloh’s androgyny is a sign of what’s to come in the future. Good looking androgynous girl. Sounds like a supermodel to me.
Just tweeted at one of the PR people. Started my tweet with “yo”. Stereotypical lesbian y/n?
Definitely should have started with ‘First of all, you’re a bitch’. Always gets the point across I’ve been told..
“I want [my kids] to explore that innocence as long as possible and find out what’s really interesting to them,” he confides. “I just don’t want to encumber them in any way.”
Yeah, Brad seems totally panicked.
This also struck me as an interesting quote.
“Now, in the new issue of Life & Style, sources reveal that while the proud parents encourage their little girl to be independent, Brad is concerned about the scrutiny to which Shiloh is being subjected.”
Oh, you mean scrutiny like from magazines who call out her chosen hairstyle and clothing on their covers like there’s something wrong with it?
i love that quote as well, but i honestly question if any of the quotes from celebrities are real. i mean, don’t these gossip rags just make shit up?
oh yeah, honestly it didn’t even occur to me that brad pitt may have actually spoken any of the words he is said to have spoken in this post. i always assume that every celebrity quote or anonymous celebrity source is made up.
Life & Style embodies the predatory nature of a tabloid. They perpetuate outrageous, inaccurate, and socially offensive stereotypes. I really wonder if the offices of L&S aren’t just an aquarium full of Rita Skeeter types, brainstorming ways to make diversity seem unacceptable….
Dislike! You look good, baby Shiloh! Don’t let anybody tell you differently.
So basically Shiloh remains adorable (and awesome) while Life & Style remains ridiculous.
so, what is it called when you have like, shiloh opposite-from-panic?
i really don’t care about brad and angelina at all, and i like celebrity gossip sometimes, but these shiloh stories make me LOVE them and their family. like behind the fame and glamour they are totally sane and kind, is my projection.
also, shiloh has a really cool gender neutral name, in any case.
Shiloh is the embodiment of “you do you”.
When I was her way my dream was to be alicia silver stone in the movie clueless I also didn’t even think about sex or who I liked whether it be a boy or girl so there is no way that shiloh wearing awesome clothes is in any way an indicater of what her sexual preference will be. To have journalistic integrity first they have to be a journalist.
‘To have journalistic integrity first they have to be a journalist’
OH SNAP. All they are is vultures in my opinion.
This is ridiculous. When I was younger one of my best friends wore her hair short and wore her brothers’ clothes all the time. I wore too many hair ribbons and pushed the dress code with my shiny bright red Mary Janes. Guess which one of us ended up being gay? The one commenting on this lesbian website, obviously. Kids are kids. I was working in a preschool today and heard a 4 year old say that she couldn’t play with trucks because those are for boys. Last week in the same class a little boy got teased for playing in the homemaking center. It’s ridiculous how early we’re bombarding children with the idea that they can’t do what’s fun for them because of their gender. Good for Shiloh for being happy and doing what makes her feel comfortable and have fun and good for her parents for letting her.
^this. gender should never, ever get someone ridiculed for doing something they enjoy. That disgusts me so much, I can’t even get into it. Our society needs work
Those last two sentences in the article. YES.
It’s always the bullied children who have to deal with consequences, get punished, or are told to change their behavior. Instead of moving the bullies out of a class with the bullied child, they’ll move the bullied kid. If a kid is picked on for doing something different from the norm, they will be encouraged to stop it and act like everyone else; the kids who pick on the child don’t even come into the equation.
We need to stop punishing bullied kids for being themselves and start actually punishing the kids who bullied them.
I personally am much more concerned about Kristen Cavllari becoming a parent…
Yeah. Can we also discuss Seal and Heidi? That is so sad! :(
That one hurts my heart. I can’t talk about it yet.
In my nerdy corner of the internet, we call that bullshit “I’m just worried that your deviant behaviour will cause people to treat you like a freak, you freak” talk concern-trolling. “I’m just worried that she’s SICK because she’s SO SKINNY, there must be something wrong!” “I’m just worried people will cal you a slut because you’re acting like a slut,you slut!” “I’m SO WORRIED that Shiloh will get bullied for being DIFFERENT, she SHOULDN’T DO THAT”=concern trolling.
GENIUS
Kudos to Brad and Angelina for letting their children express themselves. Even if Shiloh DOES end up being transgender or queer in the future (oh, the horror…whatever will her parents do?), isn’t it better that she was supported throughout her life and didn’t feel like she had to suppress a part of herself? How does that reflect as “bad parenting”?
I distinctly remember one girl from elementary girl who reminded me of Shiloh. She wore boys’ clothes, kept her hair short, and she even had an ambiguous name. She was a year below me, so I’m not entirely sure if she was ever picked on for the way she dressed. Anyways, I just Facebook’d her now and she’s even more feminine (and obviously more heterosexual) than I am! Childhood is such a transient time, and people go through a lot of change. If Shiloh ends up being a tomboy for the rest of her life, fine. If she doesn’t, maybe all this panic was for nothing. But she should fuck them all by being a happy, balanced person. Unfortunately, that goal is made all the more difficult by trashy tabloids scrutinizing her family 24/7…I just want to give her a hug and a cookie.
Thanks for providing the emails, I firmly believe in letting people know when they’ve fucked up.
While I don’t have the parenting expertise of a two dollar tabloid magazine, I do know that you can’t MAKE a child do anything at that age. My sister-in-law wanted a tomboy, but all her daughter wants is princesses and glitter (neither of which is any indication of whether she will turn out gay, straight or celibate living in a cave).
Shiloh looks happy. Can’t we all just be happy for her and her parents?
That, and Dinosaurs Rule!
Dolls are awful. Who wouldn’t rather play with a dinosaur toy? I had a collection of plastic dinosaurs growing up, and that is most likely why I am a lesbian.
I am so glad Life and Style is shedding insight on how we become queer mutants. It is an evolution that begins with rejecting toys that are “assigned” to little girls, is worsened by the desire to wear comfortable shorts, and eventually results in a well-rounded person who doesn’t comfortably fit into society’s bi-gender system.
We better start publicly humiliating parents who encourage their child’s self-expression, before it morphs into a situation where everyone is tolerant of all types of people. That would be very un-American.
Jurassic Park totally turned me into a lesbian. I mean, it’s a movie about how an island of all-female dinosaurs overthrew a patriarchal system of exploitation by mating with one another.
Also, Laura Dern in cargo shorts and Timberlands.
#clevergirl
Yes yes and YES. Loved that movie when I was little and still do. Laura Dern may have been my first lesbian crush…
Also I forgot to mention that my brother and I randomly say “clever girl” to one another all the time. It’s addicting.
Gender policing really pisses me off. What bullshit. I know tabloids aren’t supposed to be taken seriously, but this is pretty aggressive, even for them. I mean, who goes after 5-year olds?
Agreed. Although it can be said that they’re just doing their jobs, this just looks desperate, and really low. Where’s the respect?
It wouldn’t be too hard to “report” on this Shiloh spotting without all the shame.
When I was seven and my sister was 5 she told me that she wanted to be a Care Bear. You know how they have that ridiculous little tuft of hair at the top of their heads? I was going to cut my sister’s hair like that because, you know, she wanted to be a Care Bear so I was going to help her (because I’m a good sister)!
My mom had a different opinion and I got into hella trouble but the moral of the story is that kids are like little crazy people. Wanting short hair cuts is pretty normal compared to the stuff some kids want.
I believe when i was little I wanted to grow up to be a puppy…watching mine sleep on my feet that still seems like a pretty sweet deal to me. And I also had my sister cut my hair
I wanted to be either (or both!) a maritime archaeologist or a kitten. Sadly I’m pretty sure I’m only going to be one of those things. :(
well we are all made of kittens, so you’ve got that one covered.
I’m more concerned about the effects of Shiloh’s having Brad and Angelina as parents (and them growing up in a media circus) than how her hair is cut. It will be interesting to see how her style changes as she gets older (and when she’s older) and to see how the press (including this magazine) will react to that.
Also, it’s a HAIRCUT. ON A CHILD. Get over yourselves and move on with your life.
This stuff pisses me off, they need to leave the kid alone already. And dinosaurs are awesome, everyone knows that.
all I have to say to this is that I hope brad and angelina contine to support her in expressing herself. Mum always tried to femme me up and I hated it. it meant fights and cried and spending money on clothes never to be worn and getting told off when you dirty said clothes.
Need I remind everyone of our heroine Rachel Maddow’s high school pic where she looked like a regular southern belle…
Omg, I’d never seen that before. Too funny.
Breaking news: haircuts not permanent. “It grows back!” says expert.
somewhere someplace, rick santorum’s new platform reads, “shiloh pitt’s alternative haircut is single-handedly responsible for america’s downward spiral of american family values”
Should we start a thread of Items we’d rather spend $3 on as opposed to an issue of “Life & Style?”
I’d probably go for a triple feature redbox style.
5 candy bars (the ones that are buy 2 for 1 and then one that is just a dollar and then have money to pay for the sales tax)
Those tiny sample size packs of lube (for traveling/surprises!)
3 drinks at dollar drink night at your fav gay bar (actually, more like 1.5 drinks, TIP YOUR BARTENDER).
http://www.amazon.ca/Kitten-Party-Boyd-McDonnell/dp/B0036EH3WA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327613205&sr=8-1
How about a rad lesbian romance novel?
http://www.amazon.com/Angels-and-Manners-ebook/dp/B004J8HRZK/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327680913&sr=1-3
I’m sure it would involve ice cream.
I realize that this is somewhat off-topic, but Shiloh Panic is kind of the coolest band name ever.
Life & Style, OK Magazine, and National Enquirer are the kings of BS media and supposed “concerns” over things that aren’t their business or very offensive. Such as this case. This is a 4-5 year old girl. It’s disgusting to judge her and basically bully her for being a little tomboyish. I see those magazine on the stands all the time and I either end up laughing at them or shaking my head.
Speaking of dinosaurs, I really wish this was around when I was a kid: http://www.amazon.com/Playskool-Kota-My-Triceratops-Dinosaur/dp/B0016H1OPQ
OMG if that was actually still available and/or not hundreds of dollars I would so be buying that for my daughter for her 3rd birthday. (And then I would play with it after she went to bed, shhh.)
My hair was way shorter then hers and they were always dyed blue with non permanent color. First of all no one ever made fun of me (they were all:”oh, I so want my hair blue like yours”) and now I have a ridicolous amount of dresses and high heels. Plus I think it has to be considered even the influence of her older brothers! And honestly even if she turns out to be a queer, who cares?
I love that you point out the fact that if the writers of Life and Style magazine thought being queer or trans was perfectly fine and good and natural, THIS ARTICLE WOULDN’T EXIST. Underneath all of the shit that this article is, there’s a bunch of bigotry. It’s this feeling like “if you’re queer or trans then okay, we’ll make the best of it, but DEAR GOD if we can stop it from happening, we will!”
Well said; I think that’s exactly it.
Angelina and Brad should be congratulated for encouraging their daughter to be who she wants. I had hair down past my waist for my whole childhood and absolutely itched to cut it off. I did so when I was 11 (had a very short boyish style) and my mum was in tears. Why couldn’t she see that it was the real me without all that hair and ribbons?
It’s hard being mistaken for a guy but it’s harder to walk around being something you’re not. Hopefully some parents around the world will see these articles and realise that they should let their children be themselves.
when i see that picture of angelina with her kids all i can think of is how happy and cute they look together #wtfleaveshilohalone
something about all of this reminds me of the time when my little three- or four-year-old cousin at the time was looking at pictures of all of us grandkids on the fridge and pointed out everyone by name, and when she got to a picture of her at one year she said “and that’s me when i was a little boy”. she thought that everyone is born a little boy.
I was surprised more wasn’t said about her age. Seeing as I know nothing about the ages of the Jolie Pitt children, I googled it. She will turn 6 in May. Does anyone else work with kids this age?!?!?! THEY ARE FULL OF ATTITUDE! If a 5-6 year old girl really wanted short hair she would find a way to do it whether or not her parents approved. Girls especially are very stubborn at this age and while I love them it can make being a nurse quite difficult. Sorry, almost started ranting about work.
Asides from the obvious gender policing and inherent bigotry that the magazine portrays here, there’s something else as well: Call me crazy, but short hair and comfy clothes are insanely more comfortable when you’re 5 years old and you just want to play.*
* Which still applies when you’re 26, by the way.
i mean my mom kept my hair short as a youngin’ mostly because it’s way easier to deal with on a little kid. for practicality’s sake short hair on little girls just makes more sense…also dinosaur toys are just way less creepy than baby dolls. so there’s that.
It´s become apparent that there is a lot of people in this world who need to be killed and most of them work for tabloids.
To be honest, if I were a kid who picked on other kids, I would be more likely to pick up on the word play involved with the name Shilo Pitt. (swap the Sh and the P, and see if you are nice enough to not laugh because she is an adorable little girl.)
Bottom line, this is automatically the coolest kid there has ever been, and she’s going to be fine whatever.
I laughed, cause I’m an asshole.
I’m looking at the magazine cover again and man, why is it always Angelina who has to be the bad guy? Like, I feel like if Brad Pitt is actually concerned about her parenting and instead of talking to her about it, he’s talking about her behind her back to people who are going to leak that shit to the tabloids, then he’s the one in the wrong, you know? And it reminds me of when he left Jennifer Aniston and the headlines were all GASP THAT HARLOT ANGELINA STOLE HIM AWAAAAAY and it was so ridiculous, because I’m pretty sure he’s a grown-ass human who makes his own decisions. It’s all just so insulting and subtly misogynistic and it makes me want to Hulk smash all over the place.
because tabloids love love love love love criticizing mothering skills of these women, it’s one of the mega anti-feminist things that these magazines do. it’s sort of retro and i think it’s based in the idea that anyone artsy, bohemian, feminist or most importantly — EMPLOYED — is clearly unable to raise children. i mean i think 50% of their content is probably shaming the mother of somebody.
the way i see it, if i can have a mullet from the age of 5 til like 13 and wear the tragic shit that i see in my childhood photos and still not get picked on, i’m pretty sure shiloh motherfucking jolie-pitt will be fine.
lol
My sister-in-law is about to have a baby, but she is calling the baby “dinosaur” until it’s born because she doesn’t want anyone to gender the baby ahead of time. (For the record, it’s a girl, and I assume she was comfortable telling us that because we’re the lesbian aunt and auntuncle…woohoo!).
I felt this was relevant because of dinosaurs and gendering and all.
Pingback: Hair takes center stage – Kansas City Star « Celebrities
Maria D here here! I couldn’t have said it better myself.
I get that tabloids make their bread and butter making magazines that trounce the rich and famous for people who seek solace about their own pathetic lives in other, more fortunate or glamorous, people’s misery. But when you start targeting kids, famous parents or not, that’s just f*cking bottom feeding.
and i don’t know about you guys but if i were worrying about children’s toys, i would be worrying about those dolls that look like cute caricatures of hookers, right?!
I don’t know why this dumb thing bothers me as much as it does but it seems I’m not alone b/c 106 comments!
But I’m just looking at the mag cover again and that dumb thing where it says “from dolls to dinosaurs” – why does it have to be either/or? I am looking at my kid’s toys right now and there is a baby doll and a stuffed dinosaur peacefully coexisting on the same shelf. I must be screwing her up for life b/c how is she going to know what gender she is if I don’t give her the right toys?
That’s a hideous sadistic haircut for girl OR a boy. Angelina is a freak and her kids are dressed like they’re homeless. The whole family always looks like they need a good bath. Meanwhile, Knox looks like a girl and all the brothers have longer hair than Shilloh.
Poor kids.
You’d think it would have occurred to the ‘journalist’ who wrote this (and their editor) that if Angelina Jolie was so dead-set on masculinising her daughter, *there would be no pics* of Shiloh with longer hair or in remotely girly clothes when she was younger.
I loathe pink and dressed my daughter in gender-neutral clothes when she was a baby and toddler, but I always said when she was old enough to make her opinions known, if she wanted pink, she could have it. She did go through a pink phase, and she had pink, because she asked for it. Now she prefers less feminine clothes, and so she has those, while her younger sister is relentlessly pink and girly.
I expect the same is true of the Jolie-Pitts: they dressed Shiloh according to their preference when she was younger, and according to her preference once she was old enough to make her opinion known. It makes a whole lot more sense than the alternative.
Why are people on Angie’s nuts about how she should or shouldn’t raise her daughter? People need to mind her own beeswax.
The short haircut is one thing on Shiloh. Any parent can decide the length of hair on their child. But come on people. The clothes she is wearing are boys and the combination of hair and clothes makes her look like a boy. Angelina you are wrong for doing this. She is a little girl and should be dressed like a little girl. I agree with Brad who is concerned about his daughter’s appearance. Later on, if the child wants to dress like a boy when she is old enough to make those type of decisions on her own, then dress like a boy.
Why hello, your trollishness.
my cousin and I (both girls) preferred short hair and pants when we were young….and both are working professionals with husbands and families of their own
letting Shi be herself is the right approach from Angie and Brad to build a strong sense of self esteem…her sexual preferences are her business when she grows up
She looks a bit like Chaz Bono with that haircut…will be interesting to see what she looks like when she is an adult.
Hello Riese,
Your blog does an excellent job showing how ridiculous the media can be. I actually referenced to it in my own blog..I also feel that our society has created a separation wall between the two genders that needs demolished.
Would you mind reading my blog at http://thesocializationofgender.blogspot.com/? I would like to have your perspective.
Laurie Ewart
[email protected] Green Room at Ohio University
Pingback: More Than Words: Tomboys R Us | Healthy-Day.com
Shiloh’s name is John and he wants to be referred to with male pronouns and with male words. Stop calling him their “daughter” and “she”/”her”. He’s their son. :\
Angelina Jolie’s doing the right thing by supporting John and letting him express himself in the way he wants to. Whether he’s really transgender or not, I don’t know, but I know he wants to be called John and referred to with male pronouns, so everyone should respect his wishes even though he’s a child.