Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, offspring of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, is as cute as a button. She’s totally one of the cutest celebrity kids going and unlike other celebrity kids her age (read: Suri Cruise), she’s not forced to wear buttons and bows and makeup and heels.
The Pitt-Jolies were under fire this past month for a public debut of their female doppelganger, Shiloh, in a tie and bowler hat. Online media outlets practically castrated the parents for trying to turn their adorable daughter into a cute boy through a series of manipulative outfits, strategically planned to sway the child’s sexual orientation from whatever it is to something completely opposite.
… Um, okay.
But have no fears: Us Weekly states that they’ve called the experts in on this one and claim that there’s nothing wrong with the way that Shiloh dresses. Alleged friends of the Pitt-Jolie clan explain (not that they should have to) that Shiloh often chooses her own clothing, which is why some of her ensembles are a little outlandish in comparison to other children of her age. ”Experts” say that it’s a positive thing that Shiloh is able to pick and choose her clothing for the day because it reinforces an independent fundamental in the child’s ever-developing life.
Father of the child, Brad Pitt, was interviewed last year and claimed that Shiloh was in her Peter Pan phase and would only respond to the names ‘Peter’ or ‘John’. Some experts would try to weigh in on this shocking idea and claim that Shiloh was being emasculated by her parents in allowing her to continue such behavior.
What I ask, however, is who frigging cares? If the little girl wants to be a little boy, so be it! Not only do some childrengenerally go through this stage — there is no “norm” with constantly-evolving children – but some retain it for the duration of their childhood and adolescence. Just look at Chaz Bono. Born a girl, now a man and goddamn: there’s nothing wrong with it.
Children should be free to express themselves in the way they see fit. I personally commend Jolie and Pitt for rearing such an individualistic child. In my opinion, there’s nothing worse than stifling a child’s development or interests or orientations. It’s only going to cause confusion and heartache down the line.
Whether Shiloh is innocently play-acting or if she’s truly of a masculine mind frame, it’s best to let her explore her options at a young age — where a child’s imagination and hope is limitless and boundless. It’d be better for her to fully secure who she is in life at a young age than to feel repressed like the aforementioned Bono and have to wait half your life to completely embrace who you are.
Those little girls are both ridiculously adorable, and they seem quite happy with what they’re wearing. You know, the way it should be.
What’s with the cut on Suri? All reports coming out of there suggest that she happens to be a very girly little girl who also picks out her own stuff, and will only wear skirts and dresses and longs for mommy’s high heels enough that she gets to wear her own little pair on occasion. How is this forcing? It’s the exact same allowance of personal expression, just expressed differently.
Kids like to try out all sorts of things. Good for them.
Suri was ALWAYS a girly-girl and you can’t tell me that she was picking her own clothes out from the time that she emerged from the womb. Yeah, parents choose clothes for their kids until they’re big enough to pick themselves but I think Kate “Fashion Plate” Holmes and Tom Cruise had a lot to do with formulating what Suri was supposed to look like as they do now.
Of course not. And I’m sure they have the influence by picking out all the designer baby stuff, and with adding the details where Suri might just want a dress. But all reports indicate she is just thrilled with what she wears, and I think to throw in a dig about her being forced into dresses and ribbons is rather uncalled for.
I was a kid like that. I wouldn’t even look at a pair of pants until elementary school. I liked my frilly underwear, and my swirly dresses, and my lacy socks. And that’s what I wore. And if my mother had had the resources values, and free time of Katie Holmes and dressed me in fancy things, I bet I would have been thrilled.
I grew up, I grew out of it, and had years of ‘I won’t touch skirts or dresses’. As an adult, I am down to owning a single dress for when I go to weddings. Chances are that whether tomboyish or supergirly, the kids are normal and just fine.
All I know is that that Zahara is so goddamned cute. She’s going to grow up to be a beautiful woman.
Little kids shouldn’t be wearing high heels, they could easily cause permanent damage at her age. I very much doubt that little girl is going to grow in to a normal adult at this point. It’s not just the high heels. They’ve been treating her as a mini adult celebrity her whole life, always dolled up and staying out late at fancy parties. I’m betting she’ll need a lot of therapy later in life.
Agreed.
No, they shouldn’t be regularly. but a touch of a heel once in a while is not going to screw her up. Nor are the dresses or anything.
Considering all the photos seen of Suri are tabloids, I don’t imagine they’re capturing her happier moments.
The bit of reports from celebrity children are not near enough to gain any real understanding of their life. Maybe it’s great; maybe it’s awful. We sure don’t know.
My original point was simply that there is no good reason to throw in a dig against another family.
I never see that kid smiling. And if your closet is full of nothing but dresses, picking out the dress you want to wear is not exactly dressing the way you want to.
But maybe she asks for dresses all the time. Still don’t like it that the kid never smiles.
I don’t know. The heel sthat Suri wears are supposedly some kind of dance shoe or something – but that’s beside the point.
My middle daughter has always been super girly – to the point of refusing to put on the clothes that I got out for her to play in. When she was TWO!
The brat would claim that they didn’t match.
A typical comment from her – “I will wear my apple dress with the white shirt with the dark blue trim under it, white panty hose and my black shoes”. She’ll be 18 soon, and she is still a fashionista.
My eldest was always more of a tomboy, the youngest is somewhere in between.
They’re all brats, though.
Yeah, we can really tell that Jolie and Pitt want their girl children to be boys, as evidenced by the manly dress that Zahara is wearing in the pic…
I’m pretty sure that most kids just don’t wear what their parents set out for them if they don’t want to. I’m sure that’s how I ended up wearing a bright blue and pink tutu with a fantastically clashing shirt for most of my childhood.
Plenty of very feminine women wear ties and fedoras (because that looks more like a fedora than a bowler, to me) these days. I’m failing to see what the big deal is. Maybe she’s just ahead of the curve compared to all her little friends.
My foster son used to want to wear nailpolish because his sister did, so I let him. Shiloh has brothers. Maybe she just emulates them.
I have a ton of nail polish colors and my son always asks me to put them on him. He wants a different color on every nail. His favorite is gold glittery. He walks around in the sunlight staring at the glitter.
I can tell my mom doesn’t approve, but she has no reason not to, so she keeps her mouth shut.
Glad to know I’m not the only one putting nail polish on their son…
My younger brother (14 years younger, to be exact) used to try putting on my sisters’ and my makeup, and his favorite accessory was a necklace of shiny purple beads. My Dad made a disparaging comment about it one time and was promptly attacked by us four feministas (me, my mom, and my two sisters) saying “he can wear what he wants!” He laughed about it and let it go, and now my brother is a heterosexual male who is comfortable enough in his sexuality to be a dancer and to respond to other boys’ calling him gay by saying “So what if I was?” I personally think that this is fantastic.
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From a developmental standpoint, Shiloh seems to be at the exact age (im not sure how old she is, but i am guessing preschool age) when children become aware of gender, gender roles, and experiment and test. It is completely NORMAL. Gender roles exist, and there is no way to force a child in or out of them. (though conditioning them *in* is a lot easier…unfortunately). Regardless of how one feels about gender roles, children should feel free and unrestricted to experiment with them (they do this naturally!) and test them out, and find out what is comfortable for them. It may be the case that Suri Cruise is perfectly happy in a more “girly” or “princess-y” style, with exaggerated femininity, whereas Shiloh may be more comfortable leaning toward the male or neutral. And this is all temporary anyway. This age, developmentally, is about experimenting and testing. And they should feel free to do so unrestricted and on their own terms. The fact that anyone is criticizing this is beyond me. It reminds me of the movie “Big Daddy.” If the kid wants to wear a cape for a while, let him or her wear a cape. (so long as the child is clean of course.) Geez! People need to stop trying to be the overlords of everything. And parents who overlord their child’s gender (or other people’s kids!!) end up with kids with emotional issues. Just sayin’.