The Future of Gender(lessness)?

[CJ]

Hi all,

Interesting comments. Thanks for your input.

My take: publicized parenting is risky business. The parents will open themselves to criticism, obviously. They seem to be immune to it, however. Is that good or bad? I don't know.

Now, as to the "great experiment" of raising a child whose gender remains a secret, well, good luck to them, I say. The administrative aspect of our culture is, in part, structured around the gender binary. The child will not long escape from it. Also, as some have said, both in the Star comments and in this thread, the child will let the parents know soon enough what gender ze is (if any).

One of my "little hero(in)es" remains Jazz, who has something to say about gender, even at the ripe old age of 7: YouTube: 7yr. old Jazz's thoughts on being a Transgender Child Now, it's conceivable that Jazz is merely parroting her parent's views on gender but, regardless, they are noble thoughts to hold irrespective of your age (or social experience).

As for the subject at hand, I agree with one of the Star article's commentators that, in a sense, all child-rearing practices imply some form of "brainwashing" (some of these forms obviously socially sanctioned, others obviously not).

All I can say is, I wish everyone involved the best of luck; may they all experience the best possible outcome(s). For the record, I voted that this article is good news... just because of the way it opens up this particular can of worms.

Love,
CJ

[Robyn Katie]

Hi sisters,

I feel all the crosscurrents you've mentioned, especially the one about flaunting a child. We've seen the results of trying to name kids Jesus and bringing them up in some very publicly bizarre way, and I agree: poor kids.

And yet my overriding first reaction to the article was: Magic story! It gave me the same shiver of recognition as when, in Ma Vie en Rose, the child Ludovic swirls in his dress, happy as a lark.

Yes, chances are it will come to grief. Too bad the parents couldn't have prevented the publicity. Not that that would guarantee a better outcome, since the child is going to have to bump up against society eventually.

But I love the principle of letting a kid choose in gender-related matters. How free it feels!

(And I do realize that's just me unreasonably projecting my own feelings on a kid whose own feelings are unknown.)

Love,Robyn Katie

[Absaroka]

On the other hand........the article did make me think about why, at age 4 months, people need to know what a babies gender is. It would seem that the "need to know" is limited. Once Storm begins to talk I imagine ze will let people know.

It would seem to me that by letting the media get hold of this that the parents are exposing all their children to a huge number of expectations, namely the expectations of being a media child. For the most part these are not good things.

Yes all parenting involves brainwashing. Other words for this are teaching and socialization. And if it does not take place, extremely bad things happen. The question is merely what should be socialized into the child.

Zari

[DonnaT]

One of my "little hero(in)es" remains Jazz, who has something to say about gender, even at the ripe old age of 7: YouTube: 7yr. old Jazz's thoughts on being a Transgender Child Now, it's conceivable that Jazz is merely parroting her parent's views on gender but, regardless, they are noble thoughts to hold irrespective of your age (or social experience).

I don't think the Jazz in the video is the same Jazz as in the story, since the story says Jazz is 5 years old.

Video Jazz knows she's a girl, whereas Story Jazz knows he's a boy.