First of all, I have no idea what the heck that kid is talking about.
And the funky dance he did was pretty odd.
But... so what? He's enjoying himself, and he's not hurting anyone. I'm not sure what in all this warrants a "god dammit."
Posts: 3580 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I turned it off when I realized that the little boy was about to sexy dance.
Who cares if the kid is who he is? Just guessing but he won't be murdering people anytime soon so I think he is the least of your worries Sa'eed.
If anything I think his parents should be aware of the fact that their young child is posting any kind of video on the internet. I don't think kids should be making shows as if they are Jenna Marbles or Ray William Johnson, the hate and wierdos are difficult enough for adults with mature emotional support systems. I would hate to have the wit of 4chan attack me when I was twelve just for being a stupid kid.
Posts: 2302 | Registered: Aug 2008
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I'm pretty sure the kid just looks a lot younger than he is. He looks like 10 at first, but he's probably around 14-15 years old. Which makes it more understandable that he has the stereotypical gay behavior down so well, and makes the whole thing less weird. He has like 30 videos on his youtube channel, filled with similar stuff.
Here's a video of him with his two pretty girlfriends - Yeah, he is already hanging out with the cool girls. The girls are definitely well on their teens, he's probably the same age.
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A lot of 10-14 year old girls would be able to imitate this kind of delivery so I am not surprised that a boy would be able to as well.
In contrast, another 10-14 boy might deliver an on-camera piece in another character say in a 'gangsta' tone. I do not find this particularly surprising that they were capable of this imitative behaviour.
Obviously the character doesn't matter unless it's offensive and innappropiate. If the language was very violent I would be upset as well.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I seriously doubt this is an act. You seem to think this is some "character" he's putting on, but I doubt it. Nobody is that good of an actor, especially at that age.
When I was a teen center counselor in the states, I remember having a kid like this in our program; early teens, flamboyantly gay. At that age, people don't often make a lot of definitive statements about their sexuality, because they don't know that much about themselves yet. It's relatively rare to see someone quite that obvious, but it does happen.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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True story. When I was like, eleven, I elected to be part of the stupid day care cheerleading group because I was tired of being useless in flag football.
Posts: 1407 | Registered: Oct 2008
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quote:I seriously doubt this is an act. You seem to think this is some "character" he's putting on, but I doubt it. Nobody is that good of an actor, especially at that age.
I think you misunderstand. Lots of kids and people take on an extreme character in real life. I've no doubt that this kid is flamboyant in real life as well and that this isn't an act put on for the length of the video.
But the choice of language and hand-movements, whether you are a girl or a boy, is learned. When he uses "b***es" as a friendly term, that's a learned usage that portrays a certain character.
It doesn't have to be a gay flamboyance thing that he's picking up on. It could simply be girls and women who use the same kind of language and tone of delivery.
My point is that it's not surprising to me that this particular young person is capable of reproducing, in his daily life, a kind of delivery younger than age 14 or 15. And yes, he is reproducing it. Even if his instinct is to take on feminine gestures and language quirks, he's still getting this particular ones from somewhere. And kids are capable of this at a surprisingly young age if they see it all the time and that's the model of person that inspires or interests them.
I, of course, don't have a problem with anyone choosing any kind of delivery they feel fits them, although I do question people so young making YouTube videos. But then it seems to happen all the time and perhaps it's a good outlet for people for one reason or another.
(Maybe the kid only does get to act like this in front of a camera?)
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Again, I think you're taking the wrong tack here. Sure, in the sense that a person is not necessarily born with a vocabulary that matches gay stereotypes, I wouldn't characterize the mannerisms as "learned," in the sense that learning involves a conscious process. I would say the mannerisms are "acquired," or that perhaps the kid has a strong disposition toward identifying with women and the female gender. But there's a difference between learning and acquiring behaviors.
I had a friend in high school who was flamboyantly gay, but it was a catholic boy's prep school, and he was being raised in conservative religious environment. He was not out until he went to university, but I knew, and most people realized, that he was gay, and he was incapable of hiding it. I asked some gay friends just recently about this phenomenon, and they proposed the hypothesis that certain gay kids, but not all, sympathize with the opposite gender to such a degree that they begin to pattern themselves after women instead of men- but they insisted it was a subconscious process that couldn't be controlled. And from what I remember, this friend of mine couldn't convincingly portray a straight teenager, and not for lack of trying.
So I suppose I only object to the notion that this kind of manner has to be something you learn, if in that learning it suggests there is a choice involved. Personal experience suggests to me that there is no such choice.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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He will hang out with the coolest girls and be one of them.
He will be untouchable.
Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it’s okay to be a boy. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, because you think that being a girl is degrading. But secretly, you’d love to know what it’s like, wouldn’t you?
Posts: 262 | Registered: May 2004
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He will hang out with the coolest girls and be one of them.
He will be untouchable.
Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because it’s okay to be a boy. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, because you think that being a girl is degrading. But secretly, you’d love to know what it’s like, wouldn’t you?
My favorite Monty Python bits were always the ones where they dressed up like women, so maybe you're onto something there.
Posts: 668 | Registered: Aug 2010
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I think it's just weird, to have a boy acting like that. I don't think his father would like it.
I also recognize that it isn't socially acceptable anymore to tell that kid to knock it off. Maybe though that kid just lacked a father and brothers who would set him straight and tell him not to be so effeminate, that girly man is no way to go about life.
Posts: 668 | Registered: Aug 2010
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quote:Originally posted by Sa'eed: I think it's just weird, to have a boy acting like that. I don't think his father would like it.
I also recognize that it isn't socially acceptable anymore to tell that kid to knock it off. Maybe though that kid just lacked a father and brothers who would set him straight and tell him not to be so effeminate, that girly man is no way to go about life.
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What I don't like about the video is that for a boy to express his effeminate side, it means dancing sexually or sexualizing himself. That's not his fault - It's our fault, and our society's fault. We're the ones that oftentimes set women up as beings that only exist as sexual receptacles for men.
It's interesting. A girl getting on and doing things that are male-gendered would not be as sexualized, I think, because men aren't sexualized to the same degree, and it also wouldn't upset random ignorant people because masculinity is an ideal to which we should all aspire. Who wouldn't want to be a man?
I hope he's able to withstand the comment drivel, and that he's happy, because I'm sure people on the internet are beings stupid. However, to launch into my own gay stereotype: That kid is more of a man than they'll ever be, and more of a woman than they'll ever get.