http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2009/07/07/ ... -a-secret/

Sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe someday I'll try it.

I don't like this idea.

I don't agree either. I'm afraid that this idea might do more harm to the child then good.

We are what we are. There are real, fundamental differences between men and women, and they need to be taught in order to survive today.

I find so many thing wrong with just that part alone.

It's funny they didn't mention their other two... babies: Snap, and Crackle.

http://www.rathergood.com/hedgehogs


Here's to hoping it's a chick.

The IDEA of gender is a SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION?

Man. Those parents need to learn some gosh darn biology.

The mere fact that this kid is like 2 years old and nobody can tell if its a boy or girl kind of acts as a testament to just how little it actually f*cking matters.

Actually, yes, gender is a SOCIAL construction, not biological. Gender is the roles played out by the sexes (biological). There you go. Weird, but that's how it is.

Why do I keep thinking about To Wong Foo every time I see this thread get bumped?

The IDEA of generder isn't social construction. The PERCEPTION however is. And I'm not just talking about clothes either. Even post-op sex change doesn't change who and what you really are, but people's perception will.

I want some Rice Crispies.

What bugs me is that gender isn't an idea to begin with. And the role played by the sexes is a lot more biological than you might think, even though thousands of years of society worsen the situation.

The only thing I can agree with is what Lantis said about perception...
I look at it this way: they don't want society stigmas on the child, right? So they conceal the nature of the kid. So the kid's immune to prejudice.
So instead of working to make the world a better place and eradicate prejudice, they run away from it.
Whoever put Laziness as one of the 7 sins knew what they were doing. Gosh, how I love mankind.

i hate feminists. nothing is more damaging then a group of stupid idiots who think all the problems of the world are caused by a few old words that somehow have a bit of sexuality in them.

that child is going to have a very difficult time growing up and it wouldnt surprise me if the child has issues later on about what sex it really is. you cant change sociology, its part of what humans are. we operate on the differences between each people and media and marketing exploit and underline them. to go against society is to be ostracized from it. there are far more dangerous things out there then sexuality, and the child will know as soon as he hits school - that you can be sure of!

I think it is safe to say that these parents are progressive. They are not intentionally trying to harm their child but they may be unfairly detrimentally directing the life of their child more than they realize. Which seems to be anathema to their goal. Hey, they are parents. That is what parents tend to do.

I respect that they are standing up for what they believe in which is that society does cause damage by overemphazing gender differences. Who really wants to deny that? If a man acts feminine, do you mean to tell me now that he might not get his ass kicked? Or that a women who acts maculine might not be called a "dyke" in a derogatory fashion. Who still finds these things to be respectable? Some of you will laugh and say you do. Even in your jest, their point is proven. I think they recognize and have the strength to face a signigicant social reality that actually is negative to its members.

But they seem to using their child as the example to defy tradition. While that may be what is necessary in the long run to advance greater acceptance of each other individually (in the same way that some black parents back in the day raised their children to stand up for themselves even though it might get them hurt, even killed by the socially acceptable whites of the time), the problem is that ironically these parents are denying their child the individual choice to express themselves in a very real way. They believe they are giving their child freedom yet they are intentionally limiting them.

In theory it shouldn't matter socially until these children are pubescent if they are taking a further stand that all children should be in the same groups, like little league, or birthday parties, etc. and socially we need not accomdate the confusion. If we ever met the child, Pop, we could still treat Pop with kindness and acceptance without knowing his or her gender. And when Pop is a young adult, Pop might be masculine, femine, androgenous, into men, women, or both and it really won't matter as long as Pop is happy with who he or she is. The jury is still out on Pop, but we know many people raised traditionally are not happy with who they are. Do we criticize their parents?

They question is are we treating people as individuals or not. Many people deny individuality by stereotyping people or placing undue expectations on them. The people who deny individuality the most tend to be parents. They raise their children as though they are their property by reinforcing their own beliefs and placing on them their own expectations without recognizing that their child is not them.

I think that this is absurd. The parents are trying to make some sort of political/idealogical statement using their little "Pop" as a pawn. Can't they just tell people whether Pop is Popeye or Popina and still let him/her play with green colored items instead of needing pink or blue.

Pop is going to grow up to be a very confused child. He/She will not be able to fit in to any societal group. I have a problem with this because I didn't see anywhere in the article mention something about some biological problem with the child's genitals, because that would be a whole different discussion.

The child, from what I understand, is clearly a male or female, but no one, except the parents, the doctor, the nurses, the person who prepared the birth certificate knows which.

Dumb.

It reminds me of those skits by like... Mat TV or SNL about Pat. About a person who no one could guess the gender of, and spent most of their time trying to find out. Funny things.

Actually, you can get made fun of for being a guy acting to girly, a girl acting to manly, as well as a person who is so in between that it's just down right confusing.