Parents keep child's gender secret

[anthonyk]

Originally Posted by Avatard

What's wrong with saying to your kid "what you got there is a penis, that makes you male, here's what you're up against, based on what we know...", etc.?

Sure, there's a lot of programming by society, and it starts early...but that's because as a race, we NEED people to be male and female, in order to fulfill the prime directive as a species.

No, the world won't end if you're fucking different, but humans will if they all turn out fruity.

Gender and sex are different things. We humans need some folks with the right parts to put those parts together and make more of us. It doesn't really matter of they identify with what society has wrapped around the roles of Man and Woman.

That said, parents like these drive me nuts. We did our best to not let our son fall into gender stereotypes, and encourage him to make choices based on what he wants. He got himself some pink shoes, but mainly he prefers trucks and rockets over Barbie. I get the feeling these boys in the article got herded into gender roles just like everyone else. Their parents just subtly steered them in the opposite direction to make a point.