When Diksha Bijlani's nine-year-old male cousin applied pink lipstick, she and her family responded in the best possible way.
Taking to Twitter, Bijlani describes how her 'Little Cuz' was initially embarrassed by the fact he was wearing lip colour, and he hid under the bed and behind the curtains. She also said that he'd faced bullying for being transexual and enjoying applying makeup.
Here's what she wrote:
"My cousin, 9, is the most “effeminate” in the house. Let’s call him Little Cuz. Loves to paint nails, wear lipcolour, learn home science! But in this stereotypical alpha male-centric household he’s often the pivot of jokes. Today he applied lipcolour & got called a “chakka”.
So he hid behind the curtain & under the bed, shielding his lipcoloured face from the camera & from his mom. Somehow it is always the moms that feel most “embarassed” with their masculine, hardy sons trying makeup. Or anything feminine."
So, in a bid to break down gender binaries, and make the little boy feel loved and comfortable, the whole family applied lip colour, too.
'Cuz' seemed most at ease when Bijlani's brother applied the lip colour, saying:
"He felt especially empowered when he saw my brother wearing it."
Dishka continued:
"In such a house it takes constant work as elder cousins to undo the conditioned gender binary,normalise gender neutral acts which are deemed feminine. So we all wore lip color to make him comfortable & accepted. He felt a specially empowered when he saw my brother wearing it.
My brother gave up any toxic masculinity & complied to influence Little Cuz. Little Cuz came out & smiled comfortable in his skin.
So important to realise that we owe the responsibility of giving every younger kid a safe space to embrace his place within the gender spectrum."
Instead of judging her little cousin, she took to Twitter to express how important it is that we don't become the bullies that we tell our siblings not to become, and that we support their 'place within the gender spectrum'.
"So important to realise that we owe the responsibility of giving every younger kid a safe space to embrace his place within the gender spectrum."
Needless to say, many other Twitter users have been very impressed by Biljani's actions, and he received overwhelming support online.
And if that isn't good enough, in a series of follow up tweets, Biljani says that 'Cuz' is now more comfortable in his skin than ever, and is even trying out new lip shades.
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