Raising a "Genderless" Child

Status
Not open for further replies.
W

Wasabi Poptart

I'll blame the bad sentence structure on my daughter who was climbing all over me and trying to hit the keys while I was typing. Ha!
 
Try reading Killing Monsters. It explains fairly well that make believe violence is necessary in child development not just because it relieves stress and empowers children, but because it also helps them understand what is real and fantasy. It's a great book and I highly recommend it.
"Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed." -- G. K. Chesterton
 
P

Philosopher B.

From Topic Discussions, I just read the last person to post in this thread as 'Gender Specific.'
 
So is this the next step in gender neutrality, then? Pretending gender doesn't exist?

Gender should be something that is celebrated, no matter what it is. If you don't want to cater to the gender stereotypes growing up, then fine. But let boys be boys and let girls be girls. All this is teaching the kids in the family is that gender is something to be ashamed of.
 

North_Ranger

Staff member
I would like to formulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned rebuttal to this more than debatable attempt at questioning societal mores at the expense of a child who is incapable of expressing him- or herself... but this is just too much bull crap for me to handle without facepalming.

Seriously, I find this kind of 'experimentation' repugnant. Dangerous? Not per se. But repugnant, odious and using a kid as a test case for trying to erase one of the basic building blocks of one's personality and self-image? You bet your sweet patootie I think it is. Not to mention more than a little silly, considering that a child does not build up his or her personality and self-image only under the guidance of their parents; their peers also contribute to the issue, as well as teachers, relatives, all manner of people with whom the child comes in contact with. It is quite the case of hubris on behalf of the parents to believe that they can dictate the child to grow up as 'gender neutral'. But then again, reading about their other progeny it sounds like they have an axe to grind when it comes to the concept of gender...
 
The second article mentions that the children are "unschooled." Like a home school Montessori on downers. The children of that household decide everything about their education. The description of the oldest boy has me worried what will befall him if he ever gets around other kids his age.
 
Uh, the siblings and therefore presumably Storm his or her self will know Storm's sex. What they're doing is not telling other people, IE people outside the household, Storm's sex. Therefore preventing people from forcing a gender identity upon him or her.

So moronic, but not abusively moronic. They're just fucking hippies, not necessarily horrible parents. Their kids will grow up more fine than not, I reckon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelo...ookout/parents-keep-childs-gender-under-wraps
 
Can't really be any worse than the parents who named one kid Adolf Hitler, another Aryan Nations, and a third the girl version of Heinrich Himmler. Then claimed they weren't racist.

Last I heard CPS had removed those kids from that household.
 
Seriously, I find this kind of 'experimentation' repugnant. Dangerous? Not per se. But repugnant, odious and using a kid as a test case for trying to erase one of the basic building blocks of one's personality and self-image? You bet your sweet patootie I think it is. Not to mention more than a little silly, considering that a child does not build up his or her personality and self-image only under the guidance of their parents; their peers also contribute to the issue, as well as teachers, relatives, all manner of people with whom the child comes in contact with. It is quite the case of hubris on behalf of the parents to believe that they can dictate the child to grow up as 'gender neutral'. But then again, reading about their other progeny it sounds like they have an axe to grind when it comes to the concept of gender...
Oh for fucks sakes...

The articles make it clear that they're not forcing the kid to be gender neutral, they're simply eliminating any outside influence on it's gender identity. That's why they're not telling anyone it's biological sex. Their idea is that it will allow the kid to be what it wants without peer pressure getting in the way.Like being pantsless in a sauna even if he'she's not Norwegian...
 
Fucking hippie parents....
Oh for fucks sakes...

The articles make it clear that they're not forcing the kid to be gender neutral, they're simply eliminating any outside influence on it's gender identity. That's why they're not telling anyone it's biological sex. Their idea is that it will allow the kid to be what it wants without peer pressure getting in the way.Like being pantsless in a sauna even if he'she's not Norwegian...
Be what it wants? It's not like it really has a choice. If it's got a nutsack, I'm pretty sure it's on the fast track to being male. Unless the kid grows up and realizes that he's transgender, but I very much doubt that most transgender people grow up as gender neutral.

I just think what they're doing is pointless really.
 
Be what it wants? It's not like it really has a choice. If it's got a nutsack, I'm pretty sure it's on the fast track to being male. Unless the kid grows up and realizes that he's transgender, but I very much doubt that most transgender people grow up as gender neutral.
Again, they are allowing the child to follow whatever he or she prefers rather than allowing friends and relatives to load them up with gender-specific toys and clothes. They are not forcing the child to live in a gender neutral environment. They disallowing gender-specific items but instead allowing items considered to both genders.

You're also confusing sex, which is what your organs are, with gender, which is what society says people with those organs are supposed to do and how they should behave. There are those who would argue, in my opinion rightly, that there are aspects of our culture's views on gender that are harmful to both sexes and all sexualities. However...

I just think what they're doing is pointless really.
I agree with the above because this isn't actually gonna change shit in that regard.
 
Be what it wants? It's not like it really has a choice. If it's got a nutsack, I'm pretty sure it's on the fast track to being male. Unless the kid grows up and realizes that he's transgender, but I very much doubt that most transgender people grow up as gender neutral.
Seeing how their oldest kid likes pink i'm guessing that's more what they're going for, and not actually making the kid go against hormones and sexual preferences etc.

I just think what they're doing is pointless really.
Probably.

But it would be interesting to see how much it works and how much they'll influence the kids choices anyway...
Added at: 07:03
You're also confusing sex, which is what your organs are, with gender, which is what society says people with those organs are supposed to do and how they should behave.
Just to point out, that definition of gender is not that old, and outside psychology or whatnot isn't any more valid then equalling it to biological sex (especially since her/him, he/she etc where used to refer to biological sex exclusively for quite a while there).
 
Again, they are allowing the child to follow whatever he or she prefers rather than allowing friends and relatives to load them up with gender-specific toys and clothes. They are not forcing the child to live in a gender neutral environment. They disallowing gender-specific items but instead allowing items considered to both genders.

You're also confusing sex, which is what your organs are, with gender, which is what society says people with those organs are supposed to do and how they should behave. There are those who would argue, in my opinion rightly, that there are aspects of our culture's views on gender that are harmful to both sexes and all sexualities. However...

I agree with the above because this isn't actually gonna change shit in that regard.
Their child is 4 months old. It has NO choices. They are indeed forcing a gender neutral environment on their kid.

Why it seems weird:

Human's have been assigning gender roles since male homo habilis started making fire and tools to hunt, while the females reared the children. I don't understand it when people fight the what our species has developed since we were considered the human species, divergent from apes. Hell, even apes assign gender roles, especially Gorillas. I'm sorry, I just don't buy the whole complete and total equality stance that progressives do. Little boys play with certain things, and little girls with others. This is imposed by society because well... it pretty much defines our history as a species.

I'm not saying they shouldn't explore things for themselves though. There's nothing wrong with being curious about what the other gender plays with i.e. boys playing house with dolls. Ultimately, children's play mimics what their fundamental gender role is in society which stems back to our ape ancestors and breeding. Males compete for female mating rights (hunting, providing ext...), and females bear and raise children. My major argument against what these parents are doing is that their kid will figure things out for itself when it has the ability to do so. All they should do is be loving and encouraging parents for when that time comes. Right now, if Star is a boy, they should obviously treat him as such.

There are some things men can do that women can't do as well, and visa versa. Why are these parents ultimately doing this? To reassure themselves as being against the status quo; nothing more. What's this all boil down to? What's the point? Do they want to seem gay/transgender supportive?

I mean if you're gay, you're gay. Same with transgender. What do gender roles as a child have to do with it? I could argue that they're promoting gender stereotypes by confusing their child. Ultimately they're using their kid as a sociological statement/experiment. I'm just glad they won't be able to keep up this charade for very much longer.
Added at: 08:28
"Storm" is going to be Buffalo Bill when Storm grows up.
Little Storm's all grown up.



Look! He's being gender neutral!
 
Their child is 4 months old. It has NO choices. They are indeed forcing a gender neutral environment on their kid.

Why it seems weird:

Human's have been assigning gender roles since male homo habilis started making fire and tools to hunt, while the females reared the children. I don't understand it when people fight the what our species has developed since we were considered the human species, divergent from apes. Hell, even apes assign gender roles, especially Gorillas. I'm sorry, I just don't buy the whole complete and total equality stance that progressives do. Little boys play with certain things, and little girls with others. This is imposed by society because well... it pretty much defines our history as a species.

I'm not saying they shouldn't explore things for themselves though. There's nothing wrong with being curious about what the other gender plays with i.e. boys playing house with dolls. Ultimately, children's play mimics what their fundamental gender role is in society which stems back to our ape ancestors and breeding. Males compete for female mating rights (hunting, providing ext...), and females bear and raise children. My major argument against what these parents are doing is that their kid will figure things out for itself when it has the ability to do so. All they should do is be loving and encouraging parents for when that time comes. Right now, if Star is a boy, they should obviously treat him as such.

There are some things men can do that women can't do as well, and visa versa. Why are these parents ultimately doing this? To reassure themselves as being against the status quo; nothing more. What's this all boil down to? What's the point? Do they want to seem gay/transgender supportive?

I mean if you're gay, you're gay. Same with transgender. What do gender roles as a child have to do with it? I could argue that they're promoting gender stereotypes by confusing their child. Ultimately they're using their kid as a sociological statement/experiment. I'm just glad they won't be able to keep up this charade for very much longer.
!
Now all that I can agree with.

Especially the "pointless" part. Which is why I don't understand people's screaming and flailing arms and overreacting.
 
I'm not screaming. I just think they're morons. Plain and simple.
Yeah, I know. I'm talking about much of the first page and some posts on this one treating this like an atrocity. Yours was the reasoned argument.

I can name names and point fingers at the people whose posts came off as "won't somebody please think of the children!" but I think everyone can figure out who those were and maybe gauge on a 1-10 scale how much they were overreacting.
 
Human's have been assigning gender roles since male homo habilis started making fire and tools to hunt, while the females reared the children. I don't understand it when people fight the what our species has developed since we were considered the human species, divergent from apes. Hell, even apes assign gender roles, especially Gorillas. I'm sorry, I just don't buy the whole complete and total equality stance that progressives do. Little boys play with certain things, and little girls with others. This is imposed by society because well... it pretty much defines our history as a species.
Somehow i don't think gorillas would have a preference for pink or blue depending on their sex...
 
Random fact: Before the 1940's pick was a boy colour and pale blue was a considered a girls colour.

See, red was consdiered the colour of Christ and blue the colour of the Virgin Mary. White itself was attributed to innocence, thus children. The mixture of those colours made them true childrens colours.

It was only with the advent of mass prduction clothing and toys that the colours made the switch.

The more you know!
 

Green_Lantern

Staff member
Random fact: Before the 1940's pick was a boy colour and pale blue was a considered a girls colour.

See, red was consdiered the colour of Christ and blue the colour of the Virgin Mary. White itself was attributed to innocence, thus children. The mixture of those colours made them true childrens colours.

It was only with the advent of mass prduction clothing and toys that the colours made the switch.

The more you know!
It is almost if colors are just fractions of the light spectrum and devoid of meaning until you give it to them!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top