Wow! Sorry Spidermama, bump bump bump !
I have been musing on the value of societal norms, and think that human beings base a sense of community on adherence to a shared set of understandings, whether they are valuable per se (such as no spitting or incest) or appear to be fairly arbitary (boys don't wear dresses). They enable us to feel secure in a shared set of 'codes'. Look how firecely immigrant communities hold to 'old' habits - it is a well-told tale that immigrnat comunities frequently adhere to customs that are long out-dated in their original country / community. Children begin life with no hint of any of it, and we gradually 'socailise' them, and if people make chellenges it is either juvenile and tiresome, or genuinly progressive. Women wearing trousers sparked physical violence and speeches in parliament when it first happened in this country!
I think dresses are fundementally illogical - they restrict movement by being either too tight or too revaling in certain physical activity. They are IMO, like high-heels, 'impractical' clothing, designed to accentuate femininity in the sense of vulnerability, and i think this is wht boys wearing dresses attracts SO much discomfort, compared to other things deemed entilrey acceptable. I think there is a sense in which it is a lowering of status for a boy to wear dresses - hence the 'comedy' factor of men in drag.
Some people will be the natural vanguard in challenging and progressing social norms - the big difference between them and other bullied individuals is that they are choosing to take their own initiative. All the examples of bullying or teasing given on this thread are of children fored to endure something over which they personally had no control - through poverty or parents with little sensitivity - or because, like Aloha's classmate, self-control had never been allowed / enabled to develop.
OR, like my DS being called 'chocolate face' something they can do nothing about - and would not want to do anything about - anyway.