Why Can't Media Get Off Tomboy Shiloh's Back?

Can the media get off Shiloh Jolie-Pitt's case and let the kid be a tomboy in peace? That's what Gawker wants to know now that several publications and blogs have skewered the toddler for her lack-of-frilly attire. "What’s up with the cross-gender dressing?" sniffed hysterical tab queen Bonnie Fuller, who seems to have started it all in her Hollywood Life blog. Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez fretted that Shiloh's preference for boyish clothes might "confuse a child about her gender identity."

In fact, Shiloh's attire is no odder than 3-year-old Suri Cruise already donning high heels, point out child psychologists. "Children experiment with all kinds of clothing and behavior as they figure out who they are," an expert tells E! Online. While it might be tempting to guffaw at the idea of Shiloh as a "preschool gender warrrior," it's nevertheless a painful reminder of how rabidly our culture judges individuals on gender expectations, notes Salon.
(More tomboy stories.)