Posted on 05/28/2013 12:21:56 PM PDT by Olog-hai
From the time they are born, we put our boys in blue beanies and our girls in pink ones. It’s a societal norm, an expectation even, that you just are what you are born—a boy or a girl. From early on, we divide toys and activities by very distinct gender lines, with superheroes and trucks and muck on one side and princesses and dolls and all things frilly on the other.
Many children land, enthusiastically, on the expected side. Others dabble in both “girl” and “boy” things. But what if your kid, even from an early age, mostly showed interest in doing opposite-gender things? More importantly, what if they wanted to BE the opposite gender—or a less-defined mix of both? And what if they wanted to test those limits in public places, like school?
Would you let them? …
Some experts predict that views on gender will evolve in much the same way they have for sexual orientation, since homosexuality was removed as a mental illness nearly four decades ago. Today, the gender spectrum includes those who are transgender, who see themselves as the opposite gender, and those who are gender variant, or gender nonconforming, whose gender is more “fluid.” For kids, it means they identify part of themselves as boy and part as girl. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Would you let them?
When I was little, I wanted to be a giraffe.
+1
As far back as the 1970's, there were feminist activists trying to get parents to give their boys dolls to play with while giving their daughters "boy toys."
What a contrast to my third grade teacher, who wouldn't allow the boys to get anywhere near the jump ropes--used exclusively by girls--because "the boys like to play cowboys."
Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. etc..
— Communist Manifesto, Plank 10
(T)he church is separated from the state and the school from the church.
— USSR constitution
The state protects normal religious activities. No one may make use of religion to engage in activities that disrupt public order, impair the health of citizens or interfere with the educational system of the state.
Constitution of the People’s Republic of China
My first daughter, when 2 or so, was so into tools and similar for play, people thought we had a boy and a girl when they saw our play room. She routinely saw Dad with tools fixing or building and she wanted to do the same in her play.
The second daughter, would have no part of that. As girly as she could be. Only Baby dolls and kitchen stuff was the play toys she wanted.
Now that oldest is very girly, into fashion and dance, cannot tolerate getting in the dirt.
The other, now 12, is far more into being outdoors, camping etc, but horses are now her love.
If they’re still confused, they just need to listen to the little kid in Kindergarten Cop. “Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina.”
I don’t think you understood what I meant, and I’m not talking about adults, but about little children. An example of crossing “gender” boundaries: a young boy might not know that the social directives for “masculinity” require him to act as if he’s indifferent to the suffering of others, or he might not have fully assimilated his role. He might start to cry in sympathy when a friend is hurt or unhappy.
As an example of confusion over biology, one of my sons used to refer to a time “when I was a girl,” by which he meant before his hair was cut. It was simply explained to him that he had always been a boy, and the length of his hair was not what determined this.
When I was a kid, I wanted to be the Hulk. Didn’t mean I went out of my way to try to irradiate myself . . .
That’s exactly what I meant.
I like your responses.
I was thinking along the same lines.
If you can pee standing up, you’re probably a boy !!
You are correct. Sex is a biological fact. Gender is how you feel.
There are cultures that use neck rings stacked up on neck rings in order to elongate a tribal member’s neck - mostly women, I believe. Might this be a related phenomenon?
Gender is not how you feel. It’s a grammatical term.
Maybe our public school “educators” need a training session of their own.... perhaps “Tiny” Tony Wiener could show them the difference between a boy and a girl?
(such as it may be, in his case)
Yes, I know.
Sex is male, female/boy, girl/man, woman.
Gender is grammatical term - masculine, neuter, or feminine - that applies to words.
But Leftists love to hijack words for their own agenda.
No they dont. Confused kids need to get unconfused, quick. It isn’t alright, it isn’t OK, it isn’t normal. Young children see and know what normal is. We are supposed to raise our children to be part of normal society, not to be outcast freaks! This is child abuse in my book!
True, but it's not just a grammatical term. "Gender" also refers to standards and behaviors associated with the sexes. That's why we can say certain qualities are "masculine," even if the person doing them is a woman. These judgments are socially determined and variable, while sex is genetically determined and fixed.
In my opinion, our present culture divides "masculine" and "feminine" in very limited and unproductive ways, and this contributes to the situation in which we seem to have many people, especially young people, socially defining themselves as "neuter" ... what we'd call "metrosexual" for a man and ... I'm not sure what the term is for women, but "slovenly" often comes to mind, when I see women in the Walmart in pajama pants and hoodies.
All virtuous and patriotic attitudes and behaviors should be expected of both sexes - "neuter" in gender. Something is wrong when a courageous and determined woman is described as "ballsy"!
What happened to OUR strength is in our DIVERSITY? Men and women are different. Homosexuals don’t want to accept that.
We are born completely naked. Clothing is determined by fashion and social custom. There is no “wear the clothes of the opposite sex” gene.
Heh. Only liberals get to define “diversity”, especially where it means “divergent” or “deviant”.
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