Daily Show Lampoons Media Trans Panic

                           

Jon Stewart and the crew at Daily Show had a gay mostly cisgendered old time mercilessly mocking the media firestorm that erupted when J Crew's Creative Director was pictured in an advertisement with her 5-year old's toenails—OMG!—painted neon pink!

Jenna Lyons, president and creative director for the clothing company, appears in the ad with her son Beckett over the caption, "Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon." That didn't sit well with social conservatives such as Erin Brown of the Media Research Center, who called the ad "blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children," ABC News reported Wednesday.

Dogs and cats living together! Keith Ablow of Fox News (who else?) warns:

Yeah, well, it may be fun and games now, Jenna, but at least put some money aside for psychotherapy for the kid—and maybe a little for others who’ll be affected by your “innocent” pleasure.

Oh my, "others" too, young Beckett Lyon's pink toenails are a danger not just to himself, but to society at large. Are you feeling the need for therapy having viewed Beckett's pink nails?

For what it's worth, I have a childhood memory of my older brother, bored one afternoon painting painting his toenails with my gramma's polish. Fox will be relieved to know that more than 30 years later, he grew up to become and remains, heterosexual and cisgendered. Rather tragically so, in fact. Perhaps it was because the big impression that it made on my family was how skilled and neat he was in the process, he didn't spill a drop.

I have full confidence many Fox News viewers' children will in fact need therapy, particularly those whose parents transition directly into a level five meltdown the moment little Bobby chooses to play with a doll, or little Becky chooses the Tonka truck.

But, this picture of this adoring mother happily doting on her son strikes me as the sort of experiences that often avert the need for therapy later in life. In fact, a study of 245 youth ages 21-25 conducted in California from 2002 to 2004 and released in December 2010 [PDF] found that:

LGBT young adults who reported high levels of family acceptance during adolescence had significantly higher levels of self-esteem, social support and general health, compared to peers with low levels of family acceptance.

And by contrast:

LGBT young adults who reported low levels of family acceptance during adolescence were over three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts and to report suicide attempts, compared to those with high levels of family acceptance.

So, maybe, for the sake of the kids, chill out a little bit? Seems all these hysterics could take a page from Ray Davies and the Kinks and if you're having fun, and no one's getting hurt, just roll with it:

Well that's the way that I want it to stay
And I always want it to be that way for my Lola Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
It's a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for Lola
Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola