I am arguing with my 3 yr old son about eyelashes.

[SilentBoob]

I just got him a glass of water which he is refusing to drink on the grounds that the bird on the cup has big sticky-out eyelashes and therefore the cup must be a girl's cup.

Sigh.

I am now banging on having an animated debate with him about the fact that girls no more have big spiky eyelashes than boys do.

3 years old and already utterly immersed in the notion that boys are normal and girls are other.

I can't decide whether to argue the eyelash point, or point out that even if it is a "girls' cup" (whatever that may be) he can still drink out of it.

Yeh, not much else to think about today...

[misdee]

my 1year old son has longer and thicker eyelashes than my 4 girls altogether! [not fair]

[SardineQueen]

The eyelashes thing is weird. Female indicated by long thick lashes when actually eyelashes are the same on men and women. And on animals and robots and everything. Weird.

[StarsAndBoulevards]

Bless him...

DS completely humiliated me the other day. Got on the bus, and a man, long hair and ponytail, moved his bag so we could squeeze past him. DS sat down and said "That nice lady moved her bag for us."

Cue me trying to explain long hair =/= woman. Nor does short hair =/= man. So as we get off the bus (main stop) DS says to the man "Excuse me. Are you a lady?"

[SilentBoob]

Did the man reply?

I don't get the eyelash thing either.

[TheSmallClanger]

I've never understood the whole eyelash thing. I see more men with very long eyelashes than I do women, like I see more men with bushy eyebrows. It's hair distribution, that's all.

Obviously, you could argue that women are far more likely to accentuate their lashes with mascara, but that still begs the question of why? Why is an essentially non-sexual characteristic being highlighted?

I know some people do find long eyelashes quite alluring, but again, it's not a strictly gendered thing. Lots of women (me included) find long eyelashes on men quite attractive too, yet manscara has never been mainstream.

[SardineQueen]

I think it's because there has to be something to indicate whether a character is male or female as for some reason that is terribly important.

So female animals, cartoon characters etc have the eyelashes.

Adult females in childrens programming don't generally have the eyelashes, come to think of it, as they don't need them as have other things to indicate they are female.

Apart from mummy pig, she has them big-time. But no boobs or hair so that's probably why.

[SuchProspects]

Female cartoon characters are basically drawn wearing makeup - they have accentuated eyelashes and pouty, more brightly coloured lips. I've been noticing it more and more as my toddlers have started watching some TV. It's quite sick really.

[4madboys]

well the madboys ALL have long dark lashes, ds2 inparticular has the MOST STUNNING eyelashes, he is 9 and people regularly comment on them.


i have long eye lashes as well, unlike my dp who has short stubby things! i dont know i dont think its a particularly male or female thing but it is seen as feminine and pretty for women to have long lashes, hence all the bloody adverts for mascara..longer, thicker, fuller blah blah blah.

anyway my boys dont feel they have girly lashes, its just how they are, dd is 14mths and for a while hers were quite short (as a little baby) i did think that it would be typical for hte madboys to all have gorgeous lashes and my one dd to have short stubby ones like dp, but they seem to have got longer recently, she is gorgeous anyway!

anyway i dont know what you can do re the boy ok. girl not ok thing because my elder 3 boys never went through that phase and my ds3 who is 7 is very into 'girly' things dressing up, princesses, fairies etc. but my ds4 who is 3 is suddenly i e the last couple of months very anti pink and girly things, i think its come from pre-school tbh as its not something that is ever an issue in our house. i just tell him that things are not for girls or boys, its ok to like whatever you want and i have pointed out to him that his fave cuddly toy..LOTSO the bear, is PINK! and he still loves him!

[yellowraincoat]

My partner has far longer, thicker lashes than me. This whole lash thing on female characters has long perplexed me. Or the fact that female characters always wear a bow in their hair. Even if they have no hair.

[StarsAndBoulevards]

He had earphones in... If he did hear DS, he chose to ignore him for sanity's sake.

[toddlerama]

Thick eyelashes = appearance of bigger eyes proportional to face = youth = attractive female.

Bleurgh.

[Anniegetyourgun]

Ostriches, of either sex, have enormous eyelashes. I don't think it necessarily makes them more attractive though, even to other ostriches.

[TiggyD]

I work with children and I'm a man with long hair. I couldn't count the amount of conversations I've had with children where I try to convince them that some men do have long hair. Some are never totally convinced.

[BertieBotts]

I used to work in a shop and had quite short hair at the time. I was serving a woman with a small child. Small child kept looking thoughtfully at me and then announced "I know you are a girl, because you are wearing nail varnish." I smiled, or laughed or something (was not in the least bit offended) and said "Well, I know some boys who wear nail varnish too!" and the child was wide eyed and amazed, but the mother looked positively offended, tutted "Really!" and steered her child pointedly out of the shop

I remember thinking when I was in reception that one of the other teachers in the school looked like a man I remember distinctly running in to my mum one evening and saying "Mummy, Mummy, next year I'm going to have the lady who looks like a MAN!" I was fantastically excited about this.

[Himalaya]

Even cars have eyelashes nowdays. But at least MN smileys do not .

As toddlerama said prominent eyelashes make eyes look bigger.
Bigger eyes in proporion to face make you look younger....

Younger women are less likely to be already carrying another man's child
So young is attractive on women because it pushes some deep seated evolutionary buttons
Some women wear eyeliner and mascara because it enhances their ability to push those buttons.

And so it goes.

FWIW I think there are plenty of little girls who won't accept 'boy' stuff. I don't think it's necessarily about 'normal and other', more a stage in child development when gender identity becomes important to children in general.

[theodorakis]

I read this yesterday and didn't really think too much about it. Later, noticed that the export Laughing Cow cheese we have for the eastern market does not have the same eyelashes as the British packaging or advertising (compared to a ad in a UK mag). In fact, our cow is fairly androgynous apart from having cheese as earrings. I am not sure what I am trying to say, just an observation!