raising kids without gender

[unownunown]

has anyone read this article? it describes some parents who are raising their child while keeping its gender a 'secret'. pretty interesting and progressive, especially if you're interested in gender issues and stereotypes. if you're not, there's pictures of supppperrr adorable kids too.

[TroySanders]

dicks

[morange]

or vaginas?


If you really want to get to know someone, you don’t ask what’s between their legs.
No, I do. "Hi, what is the variety of your genitalia?"

[devnulljp]

Interesting experiment -- not going to work though. A lot of gender roles are hardwired. Sure, society magnifies and amplifies (and distorts them), but you ever watch a bunch of kids playing, it's pretty obvious.
I have some friends with two mums and two little boys. There's not a lot of football/monster truck/WWF/action movies going on in that house. Very PC, very liberal, gender neutral, both little boys are into trucks and planes and trains, and getting muddy and all that 'boy' stuff. I have other friends, also very right on, with little girls that are princesses and not interested in the trucks their mums (plural) bought for them.
Gender doesn't (or shouldn't) matter, but to pretend it doesn't exist is ... ill-conceived if you ask me.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4_eSW6D6sc[/youtube]

[McSpunckle]

Really interesting.

I know one of the most damaging things for me in childhood is when teachers, family, etc, would say things like "Little boys don't do that", "Little boys sit like that", "You're a big boy, and big boys aren't crybabies", etc. I was too young in most cases to understand why they were saying that, so I just thought there was something wrong with me. Most people that are more "normal" for their gender don't realize what that can do to a child. When they tell you it's your choice, or you can "pray" it away, it gets even worse because you feel weak and like God has abandoned you.

I'm not really sure I agree with the extreme that these parents are going to. It seems like they're isolating their children a bit much, but so long as they interact with the world enough, they should be alright. They may be weird (in contrast to social norms), but that can be an advantage.

I suspect they'll grow up sexually secure straight men. As long as the kids are what they DECIDE to be, their natural identity will come out.

[SPACERITUAL]

has anyone read this article? it describes some parents who are raising their child while keeping its gender a 'secret'. pretty interesting and progressive

Thats fucking retarded.


Also....gender ambiguity in siblings named storm, jazz and kio? Are they trying to raise a final fantasy game???? I hope they know that unless they teach their kids to wied giant swords and summon IFRIT they are going to get the shit beat out of them every single day on the playground.

[DarkAxel]

siblings named storm, jazz and kio? Are they trying to raise a final fantasy game???? I hope they know that unless they teach their kids to wied giant swords and summon IFRIT they are going to get the shit beat out of them every single day on the playground.

LOL'ED

anyway... i'm pretty comfortable with people and their genders of course - stupid stereotypes are stupid but that's not really a gender thing is it? the way i see it you should just RAISE YOUR CHILDREN PROPERLY

i've seen lesbians act a horrid way... if that's the thing you're trying to achieve than i thing i want to smack you with a book

[devnulljp]

Only reason I mentioned lesbians is that you can be sure there's not much guy stuff going on around the house (except for the obvious) -- none of the sports/trucks/war movies kinda deal, but still the boys are boys. Likewise with little girls of lesbian couples -- they're getting the thick-waisted sensible shoes Barbie but still go for the fairy princess thing. Some of this stuff is innate. There are hormones to take care of that kind of thing. Hell, you can flip sexual identity in fruitflies by turning on or off a couple of genes, and our amygdala's not really that much more advanced than a fly's brain. Look at the stupid stuff you do when working purely off adrenaline or testosterone. How many wars have been fought over an oxytocin kick?

Mind you, all that pales into insignificance compared to calling your kid Storm

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U[/youtube]

[DarkAxel]

what are we talking about here? just toys? if yes then i don't really know what should i say...

yeah, barbie girls don't ever play with trucks... it'S really funny how you can sometimes predict the way people are according to what they were playing with as kids... but i'm not sure if we are just talking about toys or "the bigger picture"

dev, i didn't mention lesbians because of you, don't worry

[Caesar]

The other day, my youngest daughter was hitting one of her babydolls with nunchucks. Go figure.

[deadbeatriot]

The other day, my youngest daughter was hitting one of her babydolls with nunchucks. Go figure.

i want to be your daughter when i grow up.




in all seriousness, i think the sentiment behind the idea is good. i think it's great to allow your child certain freedoms when it comes to defining their own individuality.

but raising them 'genderless' will hurt more than it'll help when your little david bowie wannabe has to play kickball.

[dubkitty]

it figures. when you read the article, you see that the parents are bog-standard extreme Leftists, i.e. followers of a philosophy organized around one false principle: the idea that human nature is changeable and perfectable. so it follows for them that if you raise a child in a non-gendered way, they'll turn out not to be gendered. it's yet another example of the basic psychotic break that Leftism has with reality; if you change the name of something or control the way it's viewed you still don't change its reality or its essential nature.

now, i'm not a partisan for traditional sex roles...far from it. but this kind of "you're not EITHER" business is just insane, i'm sorry.

[futuresailors]

Self-righteous, pretentious fucks.

I'm with SR on this one...

has anyone read this article? it describes some parents who are raising their child while keeping its gender a 'secret'. pretty interesting and progressive

Thats fucking retarded.


Also....gender ambiguity in siblings named storm, jazz and kio? Are they trying to raise a final fantasy game???? I hope they know that unless they teach their kids to wied giant swords and summon IFRIT they are going to get the shit beat out of them every single day on the playground.

Also I would bet money the parents are trying to force opposite gender shit on the kids.

"Mommy I want the GI Joe."
"Are you sure you don't want this princess outfit? Look how cool it is!"

[McSpunckle]

If they were "standard" anything, the article wouldn't be interesting.

I really don't think any of you read the article. They aren't telling the kids "Hey, you're not a girl or a boy." They're just not telling people what the gender of their newest born is, and not correcting people when they refer to the two older kids as girls. They're letting them dress and play and explore however they choose.

The comments in this thread about how boys and girls are just different are precisely my point. Not only does it make it painfully obvious that you didn't read the article, but it shows that the children will grow into their "natural" self no matter if the parents tell them that they can only wear clothes that are traditionally for boys. The article alludes to the oldest son going to some sort of camp (or similar-- it doesn't say what it is, exactly), so they are interacting with other children.

Again, I don't really know that I agree with everything they're doing (in fact, I know I don't), but at least read more than the subject before sharing your opinion so this can be a real discussion.


I definitely see bullying being an issue, but it's an issue anyhow for lots of kids. Mixing kids from every different background into one building will just have that effect.

[eatyourguitar]

one day the kid is gonna grab his dick and ask his mom what it is. the mom is gonna have a some dumb shit answer that will make him want to play with it more or cut it off.