A stranger accused a mother of ‘child abuse’ after she let her son wear a tutu.
Jen Anderson Shattuck, 35, from Plymouth, Massachusetts shared her account of the experience on Facebook.
Anderson says a man ‘accosted’ her and her three-year-od son while they were walking to the park, demanding to know why he was wearing a skirt.
‘I’m just curious,’ the man said. ‘Why do you keep doing this to your son?’
The man then directed his questions at Anderson’s son.
‘She shouldn’t keep doing this to you,’ he said. ‘You’re a boy. She’s a bad mommy. It’s child abuse.’
The man took pictures, saying, ‘Now everyone will know.’
Despite Anderson calling the police, who complimented the skirt, her son no longer feels safe.
‘He wants to know: “Is the man coming back? The bad man? Is he going to shout more unkind things about my skirt? Is he going to take more pictures?”’
Anderson described her son as a child who likes to ‘play trucks’, adding, he also ‘likes to do jigsaw puzzles. He likes to eat plums. And he likes to wear sparkly tutus.
‘If asked, he will say the tutus make him feel beautiful and brave. If asked, he will say there are no rules about what boys can wear or what girls can wear.’
Anderson finished the post saying she will not be intimidated.
‘I will not be made to feel vulnerable or afraid. I will not let angry strangers tell my son what he can or cannot wear.
‘The world may not love my son for who he is, but I do. I was put on this earth to make sure he knows it.’
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