Sort of a take-off from JessieMay's thread on men's beauty...
I'm old enough to recognize the shift, and probably too old to have a good grasp on it. I think the change is real and permanent. It has little impact on Joe Sixpack of my generation, but the younger you go, the more impactful it is. YouTube, Instagram and the like are full of it. Parent supported and encouraged things that run the gamut from boys with long (feminine) hair, boys wearing makeup and long acrylics, wearing girl's clothes as boys or as girls, gender fluid, gender creative, kids performing drag, male and trans homecoming queens... more examples than I can name.
Some things have kind of sneaked up on us (me). Athletics, that used to be so stridently everything-masculine is just not anymore. No one bats an eye over their earrings, long hair, braids, or updos anymore, and that's ON the field or court. Until probably 10 years ago I never saw a guy in the nail salon, much less see one wearing polish in public. Still far from common, but the fact that it's out there is worlds apart from where it used to be. Same with brows. I see a lot of guys who get their brows done. A few years ago that was unheard of. It wasn't long ago that I never saw a male SA at a makeup counter or store. Then I started seeing guys working there. Now it's not uncommon for them to be wearing obvious makeup. Boys presenting female or transitioning at an early age, teens and pre-teens doing drag... controversial, but it's out there.
I feel like were seeing a massive loosening of social constructs as they relate to gender and sexuality. Kids now have never known a time when gay marriage wasn't legal. Boys kissing boys and girls kissing girls is now common on TV. Most of us remember when that was massively demonized. Things relating to gender and sexuality that used to be WAY out on the fringes are now as close as a mouse click away for anybody of any age. We will never go back to the way things were. The internet has mainstreamed things that were largely unheard of not that long ago.
I think we're seeing the emergence and the normalization, even the celebration of this part of "us" that we, for the most part, kept locked away.
Comments?