X: A Fabulous Child’s
Story is a fantastic story by Lois Gould. It centers on a fiction
experiment where a set of Parents raise their child genderless. This baby’s
name is simply X and it is raised with both girl and boys toys, clothes and
lessons. X is taught to be a person, not to be a boy or a girl. Obviously, this
upsets many parents once X goes to school, but it is discovered that X is
actually the most well-rounded and normal child the school psychologist had
ever seen.
This
story was so impressive to me because it really gets you thinking about gender
as a social construct. Gender is a completely taught behavior, not a learned
one. Boys aren’t born with the knowledge to like blue, trucks and violence.
These are all taught just like girls are taught to like pink, not be too rough
and enjoy dolls more than superheroes. These behaviors are what is keeping
gender-norms alive. As a functional society, we don’t even really need to
introduce gender to our children until puberty. There is no benefit to drilling
these gender norms into our children’s heads before they can even talk.
This
story reminded me of a very interesting news report from a few years ago that
centered on Baby Storm. Storm’s parents decided that it was unimportant for the
world to know Storm’s gender and that they would raise him or her without the
constraints of gender norms. This of course became a media circus and people
demanded to know Storm’s sex. The parents never waivered, and to this day it is
unknown to the public whether Baby Storm is a boy or a girl. The parents have
decided to let Storm announce his or her gender when Storm thinks it’s time. I think they've made an excellent choice, good for them.
A girl I know, when she was younger, used to play football with her barbie dolls. Now, she identifies as a girl. Did playing a "boys" game affect her in anyway? No. Exposing your child to different things at a younger age is beneficial. When they are old enough to understand what they like and don't like, they can then make their gender decision. I agree with you Kaitlyn, I think the Baby Storm's parents made a good decision.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Thanks for including the video about baby Storm, Kaitlyn. And thanks for your example, Kirsten. I'm a little surprised by both of your responses because we watched a video about baby Storm in my class last year, and the class thought it was a TERRIBLE idea! Like Anne Fausto-Sterling points out in "The Five Sexes, Revisited," "Some find the changes underway deeply disturbing. Others find them liberating." --Rachel
ReplyDeleteI think it's important for parents to allow their child to grow and develop into their own person, but the idea of no gender is a little odd to me. Girls should be allowed to play with trucks and action figures while boys should be able to like Barbies, but I think the child still needs to be raised as a certain gender. The child is simply a child and doesn't understand the world, so having them pick their gender is confusing. There should be a line drawn somewhere, even though it is a good idea to nurture the child in a supportive environment where they feel safe to play with any kind of toys.
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