So I’m watching The Pirate Fairy (for review) and working on some other stuff when my oldest (21 years old) comes up from his hidey-hole in the basement. He asks what I’m watching and I tell him it’s the latest Tinker Bell movie and he scoffs. His reaction was “So you’re stuck pretty much reviewing whatever they send you now?”
True, reviews are more of a ”side thing” I do these days than when I was running a news/review website on video games and home video. This is by design. This isn’t my problem, however.
After telling him that indeed I actually requested the movie and relaying my opinion the Tinker Bell movies are pretty good he said “I’m going to have to forget you said that or you’re going to have to start wearing a pink tutu.”
This reaction implies a lack of “masculine” orientation in something worth my time. By finding merits in this movie which is primarily designed to appeal to girls I have lost credibility as a man. I am to be shamed, to wear a “silly” dance costume. Never mind that dance is for both men and women and football players regularly take ballet to help with agility.
His reaction reminded me of the use of “that’s so gay” as an insult to denigrate something.
I feel as if I have failed as a parent.
I am embarrassed, not for finding the merits in a movie for which I am not the target audience, but for having a son that would be so … I don’t know what the word is… chauvinistic? Bigoted?