Posted on 10/03/2022 5:49:40 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
As Gabriella Martenson prepared for the birth of her first child, she came to a decision. She wouldn’t tell her child if they’d been born a girl or a boy, and would largely avoid discussing their birth sex with people outside her family and friendship group.
“I wanted them to be who they want to be. I don't want to decide that for them,” says Martenson, who was 30 and living in her home city, Stockholm, when she had her first child. “[It’s] just as I don't want to decide what they grow up to do, or who they decide to love or live with.”
As a child herself, Martenson had mostly been raised within stereotypical gender norms, such as being given pink belongings and dresses to wear. But in her late teens, she says she “discovered feminism” and began questioning gender norms. So, when she became a mother, she chose to buy her own child a wide range of clothes and gifts, ranging from trains to dolls.
She hoped her parenting style would help her child feel more comfortable exploring a range of hobbies and studies, rather than nudging them towards more gender-stereotypical activities. She also believed raising a child without gender would make things easier if they eventually identified as a gender different from their assigned birth sex, and help them accept other people who don’t adhere to the gender binary or other societal norms. “I'm letting them be anything… and teaching them to not be so narrow minded,” she says.
Martenson, who’s since repeated the approach with her two other children, is part of what some experts say is a small yet growing number of parents – both straight and queer – who’ve opted for gender-neutral parenting in recent years.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
“She wouldn’t tell her child if they’d been born a girl or a boy, “
What a great way to start raising a completely confused child.
Well, Gabriella...Your child is going to be born either a girl or a boy no matter what YOU decide...People who think as you say you are need to get their head on straight and being such idiots...
“As a child herself...”
Still is.
Idiotic parents.
To encourage children that their sexual biology means nothing, is both stupid and dangerous. I’d classify it as willful child neglect.
“What a great way to start raising a completely confused child.”
Probably 10 years ago I first heard of Drag Queen Story Hour, now at most libraries, by the way.
Didn’t believe it at first, and neither did the radio host, but of course it was all true.
But just how bad the parents were to be part of that never occurred to me - until I saw them, sitting behind the poor little kids, with the smug looks on their faces.
Good luck, America.
It is NOT “assigned” birth sex...It is NATURE!!!!!!
The kid will know it’s gender by feel
Decades ago they started this, buying girls toy trucks and bulldozers and buying boys dolls and tea sets.
Funny story about not telling your kids the facts of life. As a child, I lived far outside of Tampa. My parents didn’t want to impart their prejudices against blacks to me as a child. Consequently, I had never seen or heard about anyone being other than white. Then one day in an elevator downtown I looked up at this black man, tugged on mom’s dress and said, “Mom! Look, they painted this man black!” (He was not amused.)
Another funny thing. If my parents were prejudiced, I never heard a thing about it even up to their deaths at 95 and 102.
No Daddy....to her 3 kids, either
you are not deciding for them, they simply have to look between their legs to know what they are!
insanity!
No Daddy....to her 3 kids, either....so very sad
Why are idiotic parents considered newsworthy? That’s my first question.
"We didn't tell our children anything about their gender...or that they were human instead of, say, animal or vegetable. We wanted them to be what they wanted to be."
"Also, we kept them in a colorless, windowless room without any contact with ourselves, other humans, animals, or vegetables so they wouldn't be unduly influenced."
"We didn't speak to our children because we were afraid that might influence them negatively. Perhaps they didn't want to learn how to speak or understand languages."
And even in our own culture, girls being tomboys and boys being artistic is not particularly controversial. I suspect this approach won't do much harm.
Have a child and scramble what’s right or wrong in the name of what, freedom?
What could go wrong ? Oh that’s right. There is no wrong except in being conservative or normal.
“Funny story about not telling your kids the facts of life. As a child, I lived far outside of Tampa. My parents didn’t want to impart their prejudices against blacks to me as a child. Consequently, I had never seen or heard about anyone being other than white. Then one day in an elevator downtown I looked up at this black man, tugged on mom’s dress and said, “Mom! Look, they painted this man black!” (He was not amused.)”
Right after 9-11 a friend in HK took his son out for Saturday morning donuts. A Sikh man sat in front of them and the little boy blurted out, “Look! He has dish-towel on his head!”
The Sikh man laughed and dismissed the father’s embarrassment. He then explained the Sikh religion and the purpose of the turban and knife to the little boy. A very gracious man.
I’m a boy, I’m a boy
But my ma won’t admit it
I’m a boy, I’m a boy
But if I say I am, I get it
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