On Deviancy, Gender, and Shoes

I came across this on Tumblr last week, and it relates to our class in many ways. Unfortunately the original url isn't working anymore, so I'll copy and paste the text, along with the attached photo:

From the blog http://r0bertbrowniejr.tumblr.com/

"Yesterday my mom posted a picture on Facebook of my 5 year old brother Sam wearing a pair of shoes he picked out for his first day of preschool.  She explained to him in the store that they were really made for girls. Sam then told her that he didn’t care and that 'ninjas can wear pink shoes too.'

Sam went to preschool and got several compliments on his new shoes. Not one kid said anything negative toward him about it. 

However, my mom received about 20 comments on the photo from various family members saying how 'wrong' it is and how 'things like this will affect him socially' and, put most eloquently by my great aunt, 'that shit will turn him gay.' 

My mom then deleted the photo and told Sam that he can wear whatever he wants to preschool, that it’s his decision. If he wants to wear pink shoes, he can wear pink shoes.
Sam then explained to her that he didn’t like them because they were pink, he liked them because they were 'made out of zebras' and zebras are his favorite animal :)"

I see this as a strong example about gender norms in America. Why is it, after all, that boys (and men) should not wear pink? What are Sam's relatives so afraid of? There's nothing physically wrong with him wearing these shoes -- It's not like the color is going to jump up at him and attack him. There's also nothing psychologically wrong with a boy wanting to wear pink zebra shoes -- He simply likes the pattern.

The fact that a young boy's clothing choices are being so greatly condemned is, in my opinion, disgusting. I think Sam's mother did him a service by allowing him to choose his own shoes; she's teaching independence, not "gayness" or whatever else his relatives are afraid of. How is it that our country came to associate one's shoe or t-shirt color with their sexuality? And why is America so obsessed with the ideal of heterosexuality, anyway? Is that really where we should place our values?

I also find it very interesting that his fellow classmates complimented Sam on his shoes, while the adults condemned them. Clearly, no one is born automatically thinking they will wear pink only because they are a girl, or play football only because they are a boy. These ideas are conditioned to us by our society, and when someone steps outside of that box of normalcy, everyone feels entitled to put them back in their place.

Outside of a sociological context, take a look at Sam's face: He's happy. And if a boy wants to wear zebra shoes, and that makes him happy, that should be all that matters. Right?