Mother Considers Identifying 8-Year-Old Son as 'Non-Binary' to Avoid Cutting His Hair
Mother started an Instagram account for son when he was just two years old
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A mother of an 8-year-old boy in the UK became the center of a new “discrimination” row after she floated the idea of 'identifying' him as “non-binary” to keep his long hair that helped his rise to fame on social media.
Internet sensation Farouk James, whose mother started an Instagram account for him when he was just two years old, is desperately trying to keep his long hair after his school said it was against their rules.
Farouk's mother, whose son has over 260,000 Instagram followers and has landed multiple gigs with the likes of Guess, is now leading a movement to force some secondary schools in England to change their grooming codes.
After the three schools Farouk wished to attend stated they don’t allow boys to have long hair; his mother “began investigating different schools’ rules, after planning ahead for Farouk’s applications in Year 5,” according to the Daily Mail.
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“We are told we are supposed to be tolerant and embrace diversity,” said the boy’s mom, Bonnie, 41.
“However, this policy teaches children that they cannot be different.”
“Why are we teaching — at such a young age — that long hair means there is something wrong with these children?” Bonnie asked.
“I have been trying to think of loopholes, and think how can I get him in,” she said.
“The mixed schools I have been looking at have policies which clearly differentiate between boys and girls.”
Among the actions she is considering to bypass the schools’ grooming policies, is listing the eight-year-old as “non-binary.”
“Applying for a mixed school, I may just put him down as non-binary,” said the boy’s mom.
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Bonnie has since launched a petition aimed at ending the “discriminatory” and “outdated” policies.
"I thought ‘I have to do something about this, children’s mental health is more important,'” she explained.
Besides allowing boys to better “express themselves,” the rule change, Bonnie believes, “will also allow transgender people to be more comfortable,” the Daily Mail reports.
Bonnies claims that during kids to cut their hair can be devastating as it is “part of their identity.”
“Parents have shown me they have had to chop their child’s hair off, and the devastation it has caused,” she said.
“It’s a part of their identity. You are asking someone to take away a huge part of themselves to fit into what is socially expected.”
“He’s become a role model for children, for boys with long hair,” she said.
“Parents say they refer to Farouk’s page to give their child confidence. I’ve cried numerous times because, just from me, allowing him to be himself, he has changed other children’s lives. Farouk globally can be himself, and be appreciated for who he is through Instagram.”
“But locally, he is not accepted,” Bonnie emphasized.
“When he goes to secondary school, he is going to be told he has to change. He will be told; he is going to have to take a piece of himself away.”
Farouk's mother said she had set up his Instagram page when he was just two years old after another social media; influencer used his image without her permission.
