Doesn’t Matter Who You Are, You’re a Superstar!!

 

 

 

According to recent articles by People and CBS, Megan Fox opens up about her son’s decision to wear dresses. Megan encourages her son to be himself and to be confident in what he wants to wear or be in his life. She explains how her son, Noah, is really into fashion and wears whatever he wants to school despite what his classmates say. Noah hears all the time from other children, “boys don’t wear dresses,” or “boys don’t wear pink.” Noah had stopped wearing dresses to school due to how much he was bullied, however, he recently started wearing dresses again thanks to his mother who teaches him to be confident no matter what. His father, Brian, is also very supportive. He told People magazine, “It’s his life, they’re not my clothes … I feel like at 4, at 5, that’s a time when he should be having fun. He’s not harming anyone wearing a dress. So if he wants to wear a dress, good on him” (Goldstein).

Noah is breaking society’s gender roles at such a young age. By wearing what he wants and not caring, it’s mind blowing that a four-year-old is taking a stance. By wearing dresses, wigs, and the color pink, he breaks the typical gender role for a boy. A gender role is how males and females are expected to act in terms of their behaviors. The typical gender role for a boy would be wearing blue, dressing in shorts and a t-shirt, not wearing wigs, being a football player instead of a cheerleader for Halloween, and not acting “girl like.” The stereotypical boy would not find interest in making fashion statements, commenting on what his mom would look better in, and would rather tag along with his dad, not to his mother’s dress fittings. Rather than telling their children what they should be wearing and doing as a boy or girl, the Fox/Green family does not conform to gender roles.

At such a young age of four years old, you would think Noah would want to fit in and be “one of the boys,” yet he doesn’t care what people say and does his own thing. He does not conform to the opinion of groups even though there is so much pressure to do so. Conformity is when there is an alter in behavior or belief due to group pressure that is real or thought to be real. Noah doesn’t let society change his mind about who he wants to be or what he wants to look like. Normative social influence suggests that people conform in order to fit in and not feel as though they will be rejected; Noah does not conform for the reason that he does not care about what other people think about him. Additionally, Noah’s parents are also going against society’s opinions about their son and what he should be or wear. With the presence of dissenters, Noah’s parents provide support for his not conforming by acting as his allies in his decision to wear dresses and not follow typical gender roles. They are constantly encouraging him to step out of social roles and be his own person, no matter what. Megan Fox and Brian Green speak out against everyone’s opinion on their son’s appearance. It’s appalling how people are judging Noah so harshly for being who he is. He is four years old and is being ridiculed for being confident in his own skin. If that was your son, wouldn’t you mirror Megan and Brian Fox’s behavior?

Brianna Cotza

Sources:

Goldstein, Joelle. “Megan Fox Opens Up About Son Noah’s Decision to Wear Dresses: ‘Be Confident No Matter What’.” PEOPLE.com, 19 Sept. 2019, https://people.com/parents/megan-fox-son-noah-decision-to-wear-dresses/.

 

O’kane Caitlin. “Megan Fox Opens up about 6-Year-Old Son’s Decision to Wear Dresses.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/megan-fox-son-actress-opens-up-about-6-year-old-son-noahs-decision-to-wear-dresses-on-the-talk-today-2019-09-20/.

2 thoughts on “Doesn’t Matter Who You Are, You’re a Superstar!!”

  1. I think you did a very good job at explaining the fact that no matter who you are or what gender you maybe, you should be able to express yourself no matter what anyone says. Even at any age. Megan Fox’s son is doing what he wants/feels like doing, which in this case is not right that people are coming at Megan for allowing her son to express himself. Along with conformity and normative social influence I also think that central route to persuasion is a concept that can go with this blog because all the people on the outside looking in become to interested on something that typically has nothing to do with them. and with that, they still decided to make commentary and put in their two sense. central route to persuasion is when interested people focus on the argument which in this case is if Megans son should be wearing dresses or not and respond with favorable thoughts. (The people commenting negatively towards Megan for her parenting.)

  2. I thought this article was a really interesting take on the concept of gender roles and how it related to Fox’s son. It’s crazy that gender roles impact who we are as early as childhood. I personally feel that Fox’s child should not be ridiculed for wearing dresses; he is expressing who he is and he is hurting no one by doing so. It also saddens me to imagine that other children make fun of him because of how he chooses to express himself. I feel like these are remnants of toxic masculinity that need to be abolished, because they limit the ways that boys and girls can convey who they are. I don’t necessarily believe that gender roles are a “bad” thing, but it becomes a problem when boys and girls are expected to express their masculinity and femininity in only one way, and that said way is the only acceptable way. There definitely needs to be a larger discussion about gender roles and how that psychologically affects how we develop and who we are.

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