DADS READ: “Ogilvy” by author Deborah Underwood and illustrator T.L. McBeth

JER: “Ogilvy” by author Deborah Underwood and illustrator T.L. McBeth discusses the concept of “gender”/“gendered activities”: “bunnies in dresses play ball and knit socks, and bunnies in sweaters make art and climb rocks”.

This book hits close to home. Growing up I typically identified with and aligned with the perspectives of women, and felt uncomfortable with the perspectives of men. Eventually I learned about the biological sex spectrum, the gender spectrum, and the sexuality spectrum, and it made sense why I didn’t readily fit into male gender norms. Gender is a social construct, and my understanding of it was further influenced by having an artistic Danish father, which naturally diverged from typical American masculine stereotypes.

I love how this book presents the possibility that a person can drift between typical gender roles: one day Ogilvy said their garment was a dress so they could “play ball” and the next morning they said their garment was a dress so they could “draw”. When confronted with the marvelously evolving garment Ogilvy thought up a clever solution: their garment wasn’t a dress or a sweater, it is “an Ogilvy!” Clothes don’t have to divide us and we can choose the roles we want to fill in our lives #inclusion