To me, this is a very interesting topic and I'm sure very controversial to many. When I first read all the headlines my first reaction was completely negative towards it. Now after reading, it doesn't sound as bad of an idea but like Judith Rich Harris explained maybe more misguided if anything(Huffington Post). The idea of raising a baby gender neutral is great, in theory. Letting them choose what they want to play with, what they want to wear or even how they want to present them self might, in the long run, be beneficial but I think as a child it may be detrimental.
Another good explanation in one of the articles was Sherri Shepherd from 'The View' saying "First of all, the child is a baby. He doesn't know. He's not going to be able to say to anybody, I'll let you decide. He's a baby. That's where you come in as parents,"(abc news). I don't think this could be said any better. Elementary students, and even some middle schoolers are not old enough to understand the concept of someone being raised genderless. I think more than anything this would lead to more bullying and ridicule during grad school. While doing research for our 'YES curriculum', I read about how every student reaches a point where they rely on acceptance from peers and become very self-aware. I think this is when the child will have the biggest problem. Because every student is not going to be raised in this way, when they reach this stage of development I think the child might be pushed aside as an outcast. So many people have such a hard time figuring out who they are that, I think, making them choose a gender might just confuse them more. As parents you are supposed to help guide your child. I think it is a great idea to be open to letting your kids do what they want, dress however they please and wear their hair the way they want but when you are voiding them of such a large personal attribute will confuse them, in my opinion. When the child gets in to high school or even college, they will probably be accepted more and will have a better understanding of the good the parents were intending by doing this. Until than, unless they live in a very open minded area, I think the childs life will be a little rough around the edges, they'll still be happy in most ways but maybe a little lost in others.
References
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/genderless-baby-controversy-mom-defends-choice-reveal-sex/story?id=13718047#.TzrzM5jg-zA
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-harold-koplewicz/genderless-baby_b_868056.html
Kelly Jo,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog post! You surfaced some valid points and made me re-think some of my opinions. Through my research for my YES Curriculum paper, I have also read about the phases that children go through as they develop. I, too, have read about how children begin to put great emphasis on their peers as they reach a certain age. Especially during the middle school and high school years, children often care more about how they are perceived by their peers than by their parents. I definitely agree that being raised in a gender-neutral environment would have a strong impact as they reach the early adolescent years. I agree with you that parents should help guide their children. I feel that raising them in a genderless environment can lead to great confusion for the children. Some would disagree with my opinion. They would argue that the gender-neutral environment provided freedom to choose their gender identity. While I disagree with the idea of trying to raise a baby in a genderless environment, I am open to the idea of allowing the child to choose how he or she wants to dress, wear their hair, and what toys they want to play with. The idea of allowing a child to choose their gender identity is not negative, but I feel that it should be addressed in moderation.
Kelly Jo,
ReplyDeleteYou have some great insight in raising a genderless child that I had not thought of for my own post. I definitely agree that the idea of raising a genderless child is a good idea, but putting it into practice my not be the best for the child. I know personally, I never knew the difference between gender and sex and would not have picked a different gender as a child. I definitely think it was up to my parents to direct me. I also think that our children go through enough in elementary school and middle school, that for a child being gender-neutral, this could be detrimental to their social life, impacting many different areas of their life. This class has definitely taught me a lot about children and even makes me think about how I will raise my own child one day in the future.