In lecture we discussed the stereotypes of what is known as a "girl" and a "boy" in relation to children. Today if you give birth to a girl you are given pink blankets, dolls, and purple bows, while if your child is a boy you receive blue onesies, squishy balls, and tonka trucks. This leaves little room for the child to determine what things they like to wear or play with because half of their world has been designated fit for the opposite gender. This discussion reminded me of an article I had read a few years ago. A couple who were fed up with these gender restrictions decided not to announce the sex of their newborn baby, and instead let the child choose if it was a boy or a girl. There was much controversy over this regarding how this would affect the child's development. I saw it as an interesting idea. I personally would not chose to do so with my child, but it seemed like a very good idea. It was such a fresh perspective on child rearing and I had always wondered how it turned out.
While scrolling through Yahoo.com a few days ago I stumbled upon a similar article. While I'm not completely sure if it is the same couple, their story is extremely similar. Their child, Sasha, just turned five and is entering kindergarden, so they finally announced that he was a boy since they were forced to do so in order for him to enter school. Up until now Sasha has been able to play with any kinds of toys he liked and dress however he saw fit. I'm interested to see how their style of raising him will be affected by the gender identities that school may force upon him. Will he be bullied? Will he feel alienated? I hope that this way of raising children catches on, since so much of the today's images of what is "male" and "female" starts at such a young age. Perhaps if everyone raised their children this way we would start to make even more changes.
-Elle Callahan
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