I was somewhat surprised today as I was driving around to hear on the radio the presenter asking the public what their take was on a Canadian Couple who had chosen to raise their child genderless. I was completely baffled as to how it was physically possible to have a genderless child, and so when I got in this evening, I had to sit and have a look at the news online.
It always amazes me that people are so determined to change the shape of the world in which we live. Nature herself chooses to give every human being a gender, and trying to hide this from the world is something that still mystifies me. According to newspaper reports, the parents are apparently determined to allow their child to grow up without influences and biases based on gender issues.
So many things come to mind when considering this, that I am left wondering to a large extent not what the effect will be on the child, but what ever gave rise to the parents entering into such a bizarre decision in the first place. There has been considerable commentary through many various professional people that points to areas of concern in the development of the child, and others that say it will do not harm to the child at all. But no one seems to have asked the question, “Where does this crazy concept come from?”
Apparently the family already have children who have not been brought up in this fashion, so one has to wonder if it has something to do with the way their previous children have been brought up? Has something terrible happened to make them feel that bringing up a child that has no clue whether it’s male of female would be a good thing to do? Could there be some other explanation behind it, or is it just some weird trail to see what happens?
I have before been criticised for not having any understanding of how a parent feels about their child, and while I may well not have any children of my own, it does not mean that I have no concept over what is best practice and what is somewhat wayward. There is most certainly no guide book on how to bring up a child, and it’s very easy to get it all wrong, but I do essentially believe that there is a moral basis of responsibility to seek to provide the best for our children.
As an adult we make the choices that will affect our children’s lives far into the future, and yes I agree that in the early years gender is certainly not a major issue to the development of the child, but where is the logic in such an idea when it comes to interaction with a society that sees in gender terms. Children in their nature are cruel and harsh, as they have no idea of the emotional sensitivity that exists in their words. Without even realising it the world we live in may only complicate the life that the child leads by the things that the child’s peers say. Imagine trying to explain to another child in kinder garden that wants to know is Storm a boy or a girl that this child is neither!
I am not going to fall into the trap of predicting the future for Storm. In some ways I take my hat off to the parents for trying something new, however in this instance I not convinced that the choices have been made for the right reasons or in the long term interests of the child. For this child’s sake I hope that this adventure works out and he or she becomes a well balanced member of society. For societies sake, I would say perhaps gender issues are a fact of life, something that we are born with and something that is not always as simple or straightforward as ignoring who or what we are. Far too many people are already mixed up and have difficult lives over gender issues without going out of our way to potentially cause them. Nature does what it does best, and I personally feel that accepting this and living within the roles we are given is probably the best practice.
Be the first to like this post.
