Any semblance of objectivity grew fairy wings and flew out the window on the January 3 broadcast of NBC’S “Today Show.” Host Meredith Vieira promoted a book by Cheryl Kilodavis, titled “My Princess Boy,” an illustrated children’s book that promotes the tolerance of cross-dressing boys.
NBC’s “Today’s Family” segment featured Kilodavis and her son Dysonin an eight-minute story and interview. Dyson likes to wear girls’ clothes and do girl things. Mom likes to make money off her son’s proclivities. And “Today” wants to educate viewers about “tolerating” little boys who wear dresses. The a perfectly unbalanced segment full of liberal propaganda drew on the opinion of only one expert. Not surprisingly, he was squarely in favor of widespread acceptance, praising the mother for her boldness.
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“I think its fantastic and I think that what it tells us is that these boys, their parents and the social world is no longer the same,” said Ken Corbett, author of “Boyhood: Rethinking Masculinities.” “There is an audience for this book, and there are people who need this kind of information, this kind of help.”
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Corbett appeared in the introductory video that highlighted the local appearances that the Kilodavis’ have made, complete with peppy music and touching camera pans of “My Princess Boy” on bookshelves next to “Curious George.” The remaining portion of the segment was Vieira and Kilodavis in studio, discussing the family’s “journey,” the resistance they’ve faced, the book’s sales and the broader message of tolerance in 2010 and 2011
“The book started out as something that you self published, really started out as a journal … you’re exploring more about you, almost than Dyson and dealing with a child who is different from other kids,” Vieira said. “… And then to have a major publisher take it on, did you ever anticipate anything like that?” Vieira gushed. What’s more, Vieira turned to five-year-old Dyson for his take on the “journey.”
“Dyson why do you like to dress up in, in dresses, and pretty colors and sparkily things?” Vieria asked. Dyson responded, “Because it makes me feel happy.” Vieira repeated his answer and continued, “It makes you feel happy. Do you know other princess boys? Are they friends of yours or people you met along the way?”
Tellingly, Dyson responded, “People I met along the way.” In other words, people that came out of the woodwork in response to his mother’s publicity. “Princess boys” are not as common as the Kilodavis’ and NBC make them seem. But Vieira was happy to let Kilodavis mainstream the phrase “princess boy” and make happy talk about “acceptance” and “uniqueness.”
“Really, princess boys, the book stands for hope and it stands for acceptance,” Kilodavis said.” And in 2010 in light of all this bullying and things that have happened and the unthinkable outcomes of children taking their lives just for being different, this is our chance to say 2011 is gonna be about the year of acceptance. We are gonna turn this around and it takes the first step to go to acceptance and then we can start to get into inclusion and sooner or later my hope is that the world will embrace the uniqueness that is really within all of us.”
According to Kilodavis, Dyson, has taken a liking to pink and purple sparkly dresses since he was two years old. Dyson appeared on the set of the ‘Today’ show in a pink ballerina tutu, which Vieira encouraged him to twirl in on two separate occasions.
