Why Can't Media Get Off Tomboy Shiloh's Back?

She's already a victim of culture gender wars
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 5, 2010 3:23 AM CST
Updated Mar 5, 2010 3:30 AM CST
Why Can't Media Get Off Tomboy Shiloh's Back?
Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt walk out of an ice-cream shop with children Zahara, front right, Shiloh Nouvel, Pax, left, and Maddox, background, in Venice, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010. Angelina Jolie is in Venice to shoot scenes of the movie "The Tourist", by director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck.   (AP Photo/Luigi Costantini)

Can the media get off Shiloh Jolie-Pitt's case and let the kid be a tomboy in peace? That's what Gawker wants to know now that several publications and blogs have skewered the toddler for her lack-of-frilly attire. "What’s up with the cross-gender dressing?" sniffed hysterical tab queen Bonnie Fuller, who seems to have started it all in her Hollywood Life blog. Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez fretted that Shiloh's preference for boyish clothes might "confuse a child about her gender identity."


In fact, Shiloh's attire is no odder than 3-year-old Suri Cruise already donning high heels, point out child psychologists. "Children experiment with all kinds of clothing and behavior as they figure out who they are," an expert tells E! Online. While it might be tempting to guffaw at the idea of Shiloh as a "preschool gender warrrior," it's nevertheless a painful reminder of how rabidly our culture judges individuals on gender expectations, notes Salon.
(More tomboy stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X