Congratulations, It's A Child!

Sometimes some things are so silly that even talking about them gives more credibility than is deserved. I risk that event today.

A while back I talked about the great divisors of life. I mentioned that actually being alive was probably the most significant, i.e. you are either dead or you are alive. The next most significant divisor is our sexuality. Again, this is a matter not of absolutes, but of most common, and, for most of us, being male or female will be the most significant identifying feature after life/death. It defines who we are, how we respond to relationships, how we introduce ourselves, and how we view all aspects of life. I love how from the beginning our sex is important ranging from the development of tests that can determine the sex of the child (and the never ending discussion of whether to know ahead of time) to the doctor's stereotypical initial birth announcement, "It's a girl (or boy)!"

So I read an article about a Canadian couple who are committed to raising their most recent child with no reference to it's sex. I wish them the best of luck on that one. Normally I'd be concerned about child abuse issues, but this one is so silly I have no objection. There is no way that this child can be raised gender neutral. The cultural forces, for better and worse, and the base genetic drives will completely overwhelm any good or silly intention for neutrality.

Actually, the biggest surprise to me is that parents who already have a child would still think that the base sexual drive can be neutered. As Ray Kinsella said, "...we're dealing with primal forces of nature..." (extra credit movie quote). I still have the image of my son, our youngest, showing up for one of his sister's birthday parties, one boy in a sea of girls. They had all their American Girl dolls. He ran upstairs, came back with his Darth Vader figurine, and sat still for as long as he could. Unfortunately, some of the American Girls did blow up later in the party ...

The link to the story is here:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/24/genderless-child-creates-media-firestorm-toronto/?test=latestnews

If you have nothing better to do, read it and share your thoughts.