A review of the online reviews of this Twix Halloween ad released yesterday seem to fall into three categories:
PRAISE: Good for this boy for being who he wants to be, and for those around him for standing up to bullies.
SCORN: Standing up to bullies is one thing, but causing one to disappear with no guarantee they'll ever be seen again suggests that violence against minors with a different point of view over trans issues is acceptable.
Then, there's the camp into which I fall:
CONFUSION: What does Twix have to do with any of this? Why are people calling this kid transgender and not transvestite? What happened to transvestites (and their subcategory, "sweet transvestites")? Transgender is a surgical and/or hormone therapy process, and no kid should go through that anywhere close to the age the kid in this ad seems to be. What do his parents think of all this? And where are his parents? Did they hire this witch nanny, or did she just appear? And what's with the kids telling the boy he shouldn't be dressed up because it's not Halloween? I thought it was a Halloween ad? Kids wear their costumes around Halloween season. My son was sitting on the couch last night with his freaky clown mask on. And, once again, was there a Twix anywhere in this ad?!?