14 DAY TRIAL // Painting your boy’s toenails in neon pink can “turn” him gay or transgender: this is the latest and hottest topic for discussion, following an ad for J.Crew with creative director Jenna Lyons and her son Beckett.
The ad in question, which you can also see in the attached photo, shows Jenna with Beckett, shortly after she’s done painting his toenails in bright pink.
“Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon,” a caption next to the picture reads.
As both Yahoo! and ABC News report, the photo, included in the latest J.Crew catalog, incited quite a debate with people, with some claiming Lyons is turning her son gay by painting his toenails.
And it’s not just people online that make this outrageous claim, since representatives of the media were also quick to blast the clothing company for creating gender confusion in children.
Fox News’ Dr. Keith Ablow, for one, blames the mother for indulging in her son’s momentary fancy of pink and, in the process, confusing him about his identity and potentially “turn” him gay or transgender.
He also advises her to start saving money for psychotherapy, because the kid is going to need it in the future: and all because she wanted to have some fun with him and painted his toenails pink.
Erin Brown of Media Research Center is of the same opinion.
“Not only is Beckett likely to change his favorite color as early as tomorrow, Jenna’s indulgence (or encouragement) could make life hard for the boy in the future,” Brown also writes.
Brown even sees in the photo an attempt from J.Crew (which also dresses First Lady Michelle Obama) to exploit “Beckett behind the facade of liberal, transgendered identity politics.”
Of course, not all those who speak out in the controversy believe the same: many moms say on dedicated forums that they too painted their boys’ toenails when they were little, and they still grew up to be straight men who didn’t need an hour of psychotherapy.
They, and many others like them, believe this is just an attempt at making a huge fuss out of nothing. Even worse, they’re making a fuss out of something as beautiful as the photo of a mom spending time with her son, whom she clearly loves with all her heart.
J.Crew was contacted for comment on this but refused to say anything. Lyons remains similarly tight-lipped.