Veterans often need to rethink gender roles when little daughters and nieces want to play with dolls,style their hair and paint their nails together
When my older niece first asked whether she could paint my fingernails, I hesitated for a moment. I was a recently returned veteran from Iraq, and my stern demeanor was intimidating to my niece,who was five or six at the time. I knew that whether I really wanted to associate with her, it might involve doing “girly” things that might challenge my masculinity. So I said yes – and ended up with a new hairstyle along with pink and purple nails. Many of my friends from the military were having children in those years. I soon learned many of these men faced a similar dilemma – the challenge of preserving their identity as men, or yet being indulgent to their little girls who wanted to play with dolls and makeup with their daddies and didnt understand why those men might want to say no. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com