The Duke Spirit
As I read in a neat little article here (http://www.thelocal.se/20232/20090623/) a Swedish couple are refusing to reveal whether their toddler is a boy or girl.
It’s a neat idea, really, but come on. Good in theory, admirable motives, and to a less extreme extent, should be recommended to many parents.
It’s all well and good to let “Pop” decide what “Pop” wants to wear, be, do, etc, but I don’t know. I’m not saying forcing gender roles on a child is good, but some people can’t forge an identity for themselves in the absence of society’s guiding hand. It might suck, but if Pop can’t find a niche for itself, Pop will be incredibly gender confused, possibly damagingly so.
I can understand wanting to ease a child into whatever role they choose, but Pop is alone in it’s upbringing, surrounded by children in conventional gender roles. It could be potentially damaging to feel outcasted, different and Pop may find difficulty socialising. Whilst Pop might be comfortable in a genderless identity, other children just beginning school have the ingrained preconceptions their parents have passed onto them, and also think the opposite gender is icky. Where does Pop fit in?
Bitch, if you don’t know what it is, how do you know if it has cooties?
Not to mention highschool, assuming Pop hasn’t defined itself a gender by then, concepts of sexuality will be skewed. Plus, ya’know, public bathrooms will be just weird.
Inherently, their motives are in the right place, but they’re not going about this the right way, and you can’t expect so much change all at once, let alone for a single child.
It’s their offspring. Not a guinea pig.
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment