This week I have learned a lot about sex and gender in society. When I came across this video I initially had a lot of questions and concerns about how someone could raise a baby without a gender, but I have had a lot of clarification about what this really means.
Gender and sex are two different things and should not be used interchangeably. This fact alone has clarified a lot about my understanding of the topic. Sex is the biological make up of your X and Y chromosomes. We as a society mostly view sex as either male or female. In a very rare case we see some individuals born as intersex, born as neither XX or XY. Gender is how the individual expresses themselves and how they identify. I can see now how some parents could parent a child as gender neutral. I think if I become a parent one day I would love to raise my child in an environment where they could choose what type of toys and colors and clothes they like. Without limiting them to the social standard for girls and boys.
One thing I think is very important to note when it comes to parenting children is that we shouldn’t raise them the same. I have seen a push for this idea that “boys and girls should be raised the same”. I think this statement should really be “raise every child different”. According to what that child’s need is. Some children are more sensitive and some are more rebellious. Some children are slow to learn and some are advanced learners. We need to be parenting children according to what they need and not according to societies standards. I think we have generalized boys as tough and rebellious and girls as sweet and sensitive and have raised them accordingly. When in reality every child is different and needs to be raised different.
But overall, I think we all should have an open-mind when it comes to raising children and gender norms in general. It is 2019 and colors don’t have gender, I think we can all agree its time to drop the pink and blue baby showers and the judgmental looks at boys playing with dolls and girls playing with trucks. At the end of the day its all plastic and children should be raised and loved for who they are not what society wants them to be.
Maggie Fredricks
Word Count: 404
sociology 107 