YouTube mom, Jessica Ballinger, has made a passionate plea defending her son for wearing dresses and idolizing female stars, such as Jojo Siwa.
Ballinger and her husband Christopher, have a popular family YouTube channel, which has over 1.2m subscribers.
In October of last year, she posted this happy image of her son, Parker dressed in a glittery skirt, unicorn jumper and a rainbow bow along with a lengthy caption.
Since then, has recently re-posted it to Twitter with the caption: “Apparently this needs to be said again. Xoxo”.
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In the message, she wrote: “This is my son. He loves lots of things.
“He loves dressing up and dancing and science and gymnastics and his family and @itsjojosiwa and Mickey Mouse and makeup and Peter Pan and drawing and math and he currently plans to marry his best friend and loves to play family with her and laments that his body can’t carry babies, but he dresses up like he’s pregnant anyway”
And also fans of the family when already know this, she explained why she felt compelled to make this post.
“I frequently see questions online asking if he’s gay or trans or why does he dress like a GIRL?"
My answer is that he is five and he loves a lot of things. If you see a boy in a dress or playing in a traditionally female role, ask yourself— “if the roles were reversed, would I question it?
She added: “When you see a little girl playing fireman/policeman/soldier/any previously male-only role or wearing pants or dressing like a favourite superhero or male celebrity, do you question it? Do you ask if she is gay or trans or imply that she is wrong for having the interests she has?
Ballinger continued her post
“NO, we rightfully celebrate their desire to be and do ANYTHING. We call girls strong and celebrate it. Why don’t we do that for boys? We limit boys by only allowing them to love what we think boys should love.
She went on to talk specifically about Parker and how she’ll love him no matter what.
I do not know what the future holds for our child. I will love him however he identifies
“But right now, he has heroes who are girls. I celebrate that. And I think it means a lot for women. We SHOULD be heroes to our little boys. By not allowing boys to dress like the women they admire, you are telling them that being a boy is BETTER.
“That it doesn’t matter if that girl is brilliant, fierce, and his hero— it will make him “less” to idolize her.
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She finished the powerful message with: “It doesn’t make him less to admire women. It makes him MORE. More willing to express what he is passionate about, more respectful of the women in his life and more open to believing women can be heroes”.
The 5-year-old has his own YouTube channel, Parker King of Gymnastics, where he posts video such as make-up tutorials.
