#breeching

[saltlifehippie]

[neil-gaiman]

Hi mr. Gaiman, I really love your books and short stories! I just read Coraline yesterday and was wondering about it.

So, I read the book in English, which is not my native language, so it could be me misunderstanding whatever is written, but I am really curious and wanted to ask you.

So in the book, when Coraline is in the room behind the mirror she meet 3 ghosts. When Coraline asks one of them if they're a boy or a girl, the ghost answer is "when I was small I wore skirts and my hair was long and curled, but now that you ask, it does seem to me that one day they took my skirts and gave me britches and cut my hair", and the the same ghost says "I believe I was once a boy". The other two ghosts say they're girls, and later, when Coraline finds the 1st soul it's confirmed that this is in fact a boy.

What I wanted to ask is, is the ghost boy trans? I'm asking because I really don't know if I misunderstood or that this is true, and I would really appreciate a honest answer.

Also I don't know if someone already asked you about it, so I'm sorry if you've already answered this question.

Thanks anyway, for everything you've written!

It's a good question.

If you want to read it as the ghost having been trans, you certainly could.

When I wrote it, though, I was thinking of the rite of passage known as breeching. That was the custom of taking a boy around the age of 6 or 7 out of the skirts he would have worn until then, and giving him breeches, what the English might call trousers. They made an event of it. Often the boys would have their long, curly hair cut at the same time, but not always. Hair could be cut before breeching, or after.

Let's look at fashion for boys in England...

The custom lasted longer than you might imagine. This is Franklin D Roosevelt in 1884...

and an English boy in 1871...

...and breeching continued in many places until the early 20th Century.

I've read in many places that boys were dressed as girls when small to somehow protect them from the evil eye, but most of the history of fashion articles I've read maintain there wasn't boys' and girls' clothing, there was children's clothing, and it was more about the complexity of how you did up adult trousers and the ease of small kids being able to go to the toilet. I post anything to do with fashion and history on Tumblr a little nervously, knowing that there are people out there who REALLY know their stuff, and will take enormous delight in explaining this a great deal better than I can.

In the meantime, here are a few links.

Breeching (boys) - Wikipedia

[alovelywaytospendanevening]

A young and unbreeched Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1884.

In the past, both male and female young children were often dressed in similar flowing clothing, often called "skirts" or "dresses". The practicality of these garments made them easy to change and maintain. As boys grew older, usually between the ages of two and eight, they underwent the breeching ceremony — something that ranged from a private family party to a more formal event —, during which they would start to wear breeches or trousers. This transition used to mark a symbolic shift from babyhood to boyhood, and constituted a male rite of passage in many places of the Western world during the 16th to 19th centuries.

As societal norms and expectations changed, a growing trend towards more gender-specific garments for children from an early age started. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the emergence of distinct clothing styles for young boys and girls, thus eliminating the need for a specific breeching ceremony.

[frimleyblogger]

Why Pink For Girls And Blue For Boys?

Gender is a hot topic at the moment but one of the earliest form of gender stereotyping that a newborn or young child experiences is the colour of the clothing we dress them in. Why is pink deemed appropriate for girls and blue for boys and when did this convention first start? Looking at photographs of young children from the 19th century one of the striking things is the clothing they are…

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[breechingbaby]

Technically big enough for my head but just not big enough for my vision

[breechingbaby]

Breeching Baby project

return to the breeching concept, it's about becoming, masculinity and the loved ones around me, how our culture deals with, embraces and queers masculinity.

This project lives in multiple dimensions, it's about documentation as well as my eye as editor. What am I sharing that is about becoming? What am I sharing about being? A sort of cut poem.

I notice I am afraid of being vunerable about this subject, insist on turning the camera on yourself. Embrace the agency of being and becoming, reference the western ritual of gendering clothing of breeching portraits.

Don't lose your sense of humor, gender is absurd

[breechingbaby]

15 ideeën over Breeching in 2023 | lange schepen, zeilboot schilderij, lodewijk xiv

12-apr-2023 - Bekijk het bord "Breeching" van safety cult op Pinterest. Bekijk meer ideeën over lange schepen, zeilboot schilderij

[breechingbaby]