14. My Son Chooses to Be Alice (In Wonderland)

Lori Duron's son C.J. chose to be Alice from Tim Burton's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. He is almost seven years old and is growing out of Disney fantasies. He is starting to understand and relate to the Tim Burton's dark fantasy worlds. They are different and celebrated and so is he. He wore some make up, red shoes, a dress, and striped tights. It is possible to his "evolution" through pictures of his Halloween costumes. When he was younger, they were chose by his parents so they were boy costumes. As he grew older, he wanted to wear girl costumes. He was "a boy who only likes girl stuff and wants to be treated like a girl.” When his parents first found out about his gender dysphoric, they hoped it was a phase. However, it soon became clear that his effeminacy was a part of him like his right-handedness. When he first told his parents that he wanted to be a princess, they panicked. How would people react? So that year, they compromised with a gender neutral costume. Soon after though, his mother realized that she was basing her parenting on making strangers happy and comfortable, not her child. The following year, C.J. got to choose exactly who he wanted to be and it was Alice. His mother warned him of possible negative reactions but C.J. answered with wisdom beyond his age that he already knew and did not care. It will be a sad day when C.J. replaces his girl costumes for "appropriate" boy costumes to avoid the hateful stares and comments, the day he sacrifices his heart's desires because of mean people. 
Lori Duron uses a very compelling tone throughout the essay. She writes about her child with obvious love and worry for his future. She uses a vocabulary that is not overly simple or very complicated. Her essay is directed mainly towards parents and people who do not welcome the gender creative. She wants her readers to know that she still loves her child and is raising him to be happy, not society. Her essay is so strong because of the emotions conveyed through her writing. Her worry about C.J. then her love for her son, her worry of his future, her sadness when he will eventually hide away from people. They help the readers understand her position and little C.J.'s position. Her essay does a very good job at persuading people that there is nothing wrong with people like her little boy so everyone should treat them equally. Her essay flowed very smoothly between points and helped the reader understand her thought process. Overall, it was a very strong and well-written essay that proved her point. 
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/my-son-chooses-to-be-alice-in-wonderland/280968/