I've been seeing a growing number of stories about parents raising the children to be "gender neutral". In that the parents do not reveal the sex of their children to anyone. Even the children, who are aware of their own body parts and how they may differ from others, are not taught to associate those body parts with being a boy or girl. If no one knows a child’s sex, these parents theorize, the child can’t be pigeonholed into gender stereotypes.
Have we really gotten to the point where being a boy or a girl is considered a matter of choice?
Looking at this through the eyes of a parent, how can this not be a form of child abuse? You are essentially retarding your child's development, whether it be emotional or sexual. Unless a child is born as a eunuch, they have a specific set of genatalia, which by definition is their gender.
Hell, the children are even referred to as "Theybes" because use of specific pronouns is forbid in those households.
Maybe this is what happens when one starts to get to the "get off my lawn" age, but this just seems fucked up on so many levels.
I don't think it means what you think it means.
I think mcl and Ron Mexico kind of nailed it though.
Just don't be pushy one way or the other regarding identity.
Many folks are messy and just pile the toys together. No big deal
but then, my grandparents had WW2. my parents had the Cold War and race wars.
we have global terrorism and Justin Bieber. i guess the next generation might not be/have it any worse?
I just don't see why encouraging the child to not have a gender is in the child's best interest of the child
From my very limited understanding of this practice, it not about encouraging the child to be gender less. It's about removing gender biased treatment of the kids by others.
The kids are free to identify as what ever ther want, most likely their physical sex, usually by three years old.
Is this really a threat to social norms or the kids? Is there really any substantive evidence this either growing or harmful?
Worth repeating, if anyone is actually interested in learning more about this practice; from the reading and conversation I've had this is about letting kids come to their own gender decisions and most kids quickly get there. It's not about forcing genderless upbringing.
I'd love to see stats about how these children wind up. I'm going to say for the most part these kids don't thrive, at least not in early childhood.
being a kid is hard enough, no idea why parents feel the need to make it harder by giving their child, who is too young to know any differently, pronouns or nuances that will make them stand out as different in their first social settings and interactions.
I've never ever ever met anyone who has raised their kid gender neutral. Like, ever. I've never come across a single person, and I'm the target market (so to speak) of this ire (millennial, and proudly so).
This seems like a boogeyman - anecdotally to me at least.
Same here, never met or heard of anyone through the grapevine ever doing it.
Quote:
so a bunch of my friends have recently or are about to have kids.
I've never ever ever met anyone who has raised their kid gender neutral. Like, ever. I've never come across a single person, and I'm the target market (so to speak) of this ire (millennial, and proudly so).
This seems like a boogeyman - anecdotally to me at least.
Same here, never met or heard of anyone through the grapevine ever doing it.
Out of 300M people, its like 50 parents from liberal areas. Social media makes it sound like its a growing significant trend. This is one of the things I hate about social media. Any 2 fat guys in shorts can come over as a movement or legit company
I'd love to see stats about how these children wind up. I'm going to say for the most part these kids don't thrive, at least not in early childhood.
being a kid is hard enough, no idea why parents feel the need to make it harder by giving their child, who is too young to know any differently, pronouns or nuances that will make them stand out as different in their first social settings and interactions.
I don't know it's "not harmful."
I suspect the movement is very small, and is I noted above, my anecdotal and limited knowledge of this practice, is the kids quickly identify and align with the gender associated with their biology.
Again, I don't think this is a widespread tragedy nor do I think the outcomes are "immeasurable."
As with all things some study and time is required, but I do think it's a little weird to claim a practice is abusive with basically no data to support that assertion.
the most I saw was "a growing trend" which comes directly from the article I linked and FMiC used in his OP.
the commentary is limited to the public cases, which may very well be a handful, to comment against it being widespread (like a few posters have) is introducing a strawman.
the most I saw was "a growing trend" which comes directly from the article I linked and FMiC used in his OP.
the commentary is limited to the public cases, which may very well be a handful, to comment against it being widespread (like a few posters have) is introducing a strawman.
My perspective, unattributed to or aimed at anyone, is that it's not widespread, as supported by the links shared. Glad we can agree on that.
As far as not being a tragic or immeasurable those were aimed at:
a handful of people can screw up the entire population of a country.
here's a thought ...
shit and IMO it's not about the child one bit, it's about the parents and the damage it can do to a child psychologically is immeasurable.
At a young age, you can probably convince a kid that he is a head of broccoli if you really want to.