Dawn Boyle
First it was parents who decided to not inoculate their child. Now it's raising your child without a gender.
According to Parent Central, Kathy Witterick and David Stocker of Canada, have decided to keep the gender of four-month-old a secret to all but their two older children (two boys), and a few others who knows the gender of "Storm". The emailed announcement sent by the parents read:
We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now — a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place? ...)
For as far back as I can remember there have always been people with beliefs on the fringes, but this could really screw the kid up! I see many years of psychological evaluation for "Storm". Something that the parents are probably doing out of good and in trying to make acceptable could isolate this child and backfire. Much of the time parents who decide to raise their children in non-mainstream ways only make the child more susceptible to bullying and ridicule. How does Storm fill out sex on forms..... MALE, FEMALE, OTHER?
In this GAGA, LITTLE MONSTERS WORLD is there a reason or necessity to make everyone genderless?
Im no Archie Bunker, but these people are nuts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
ReplyDeleteIt seems a very extreme choice to me. Raising a child without gender seems to have many, many flaws...what bathroom do they use? I'm not sure why these people think the world is going to "progress" to a time and place where gender doesn't factor in at all. We can define ourselves by more than our sex, but genders are not going away anytime soon. Hope they are saving for therapy.
ReplyDeleteThere's going against the grain, going for your own beliefs and then just going insane!!! Teach tolerance, kindness & love - that will create a more progressive place!
ReplyDeleteThe questions brought up by the post and by the comments are exactly what these people's decision is about. The world they want to build is one where there IS no 'gender' section in the form; where there ARE no seperate bathrooms. They are not trying to remove gender from the world - they're trying to a. give their child the CHOICE to be what they want to be, and b. contribute to changing the world into a place that does not CONCERN itself with silly oppositional binaries such as gender.
ReplyDeleteThey are doing an amazing thing. The kid might have it rough, yes; but with such amazing parents and what I'm sure will be an extremely supportive social circle (the friends this kid will make) it will pay off. Way to go!
Anonymous....
ReplyDeleteI can only speak from experience, so here goes!
I am the mother of two girls. They are not handicapped or deformed in anyway, they are smart and I have been told they are pretty. They are respectful to their peers and adults. I have never had a problem with either of them (except of course the normal not listening to their mother stuff). Here is what the question is - why are they picked on? Why is it that they are often left out by their friends? Why is it that my one daughter gets off the bus at least 3 times a week crying from someone (another 7 year old girl) who makes fun of her?
HERE IS THE ANSWER....it is because the parents of these little nasty children breed exactly what they are. SOOOO....no matter what "Storms" parents do to support THEIR choice of their child to be "GENDERLESS", unless they plan to live in a bubble and home schooling this kid is screwed. No matter how what there are people who will make this kids life horrible.
That said...I do not believe in PUSHING a gender on a child either. If you have a tomboy - let her be a tomboy. If you have a little guy who wants to paint his nails hot pink...let'm go for it! But for God's sake don't put this pressure on poor Little Storm and the apparent statement being made by the parents. Just my opinion - let the beating begin :)
To make this "experiment" work you would need to raise this child in isolation, much like Dawn said. This type of gender experiment was also attempted back in the 70's with limited success. When the child gets older, the influence of peers is much stronger than that of the family so, like it or not, it will become gender aware. Many studies done on young children have shown stereotypical preferences even as early as 9 months. A lot of gender is not determined by choice.
ReplyDeleteRaising a child without gender limitations is a good thing. But to expect them to live their entire life without associating with one gender or another, I believe is almost impossible.