Guess which: Boy or girl?
Meet Pop, the 2-year-old who doesn’t know whether s/he is a boy or a girl. Presumably her/his parents (and anyone else who has changed his/her diaper) know, but they’re not telling. They want their child to be as free from gender socialization as possible. (Read the whole story here.)
This reminds me of a story I read for one of my Women’s Studies courses: “X: A Fabulous Child’s Story.” Written in 1972 by Lois Gould, it reads like science fiction. But here is a real-life example of the same “experiment.”
One thing I think is interesting is that Pop and her/his parents live in Sweden, one of the few places on earth that has generous paid new baby leave for both mothers and fathers. Sweden is also, perhaps not coincidentally, the country whose men are considered to be the best husbands (according to a study by Oxford University economist Almudena Sevilla-Sanz).
It could be that this attempt to raise a child who is not sex-typed will be successful in Sweden, but wouldn’t go over quite as well in the United States, let alone other less-enlightened countries. (Read about the fatwa against tomboys in Malaysia.) Then again, by what criteria would it be considered successful?
The reactions to Pop’s situation range from “it will scar the kid for life” to “it can make the child freer, stronger and more individualistic.” What do you think?
[Not surprisingly, psychologist/author Susan Pinker thinks it's a terrible idea. See last week's Tuesday Tidbits for information about Pinker, her views and her book, The Sexual Paradox.]
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Ellen Keim
Editor and chief writer at Femagination.com and I, Muslimah. Ellen also contributes regularly to Examiner.com. She is a freelance writer, essayist and copy editor, living with two cats and a husband in Columbus, OH. To get in touch with Ellen send her an email or connect via Twitter or LinkedIn.
I think this is pretty neat! I never heard of anyone doing this, and I’m not surprised that most Americans would find this to be traumatizing to a child. But, who knows maybe the child will grow up to be fearless and not get sucked into these “gender roles” that people love to give.
What kind of hippy bull crap is this? It’s like the parents are ASKING other children to make fun of their kid. This is the most horrible idea I’ve ever heard about.