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I think experimentation can always be good (or maybe almost always?). If it turns out to be bad, people will learn from it, and either do a similar (modified) experiment, or understand that the whole thing just isn't a good idea.
On May 10 2012 07:31 hypercube wrote: I think it makes some people deeply uncomfortable. They want to believe that it will leave some scar on the kid. While I wouldn't say that as fact, I'd lean towards thinking that too; at least as a possibility. Like Eppa! said, humans (or animals and nature in general) are very adaptive creatures.
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On May 10 2012 07:38 Thrasymachus725 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 10 2012 07:35 NexUmbra wrote:Why in the name of fuck would the colour of a childs clothes matter? Here is an article I read recently + Show Spoiler +http://www.cracked.com/article_19780_5-gender-stereotypes-that-used-to-be-exact-opposite.html Luckily, all our gender issues were heartily resolved by the 1910s, when it was decided that we'd assign colors to each "team": blue was for girls and pink was for boys. No, that's not a typo: A 1918 editorial from Earnshaw's Infants' Department stated that pink was "a more decided and stronger color ... more suitable for the boy; while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl." It makes sense: Pink is the color of a nice, raw, manly steak, or the blood of your enemies splattered on a white uniform.
But things had started to switch by 1927, and there was disagreement as to which gender should get which color -- Time magazine even printed a chart showing which stores were advocating each. It wasn't until 1940 that the colors switched and advertisers decided to just go with pink for girls.
The kid is <5 years old, he doesn't have any idea of why he is wearing a certain colour or not... A childs development is not necessarily a cognitive process... they don't need to think and ponder what is gender identity. It is built, developed and deciphered by the childs brain beyond his own reasoning. Disrupting that process will cause problems, I can almost guarantee. What is the basis of this idea? Disrupting it would be something like isolation.
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Way to turn your child into a social experiment for your own fame/benefit.
F*cking pathetic.
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On May 10 2012 06:14 The KY wrote: The whole idea was weird and to be honest I suspect the kids parents are deeply, deeply tiresome people. Yeah you wanna avoid stereotypes shaping who your child becomes, want him to just be a kid? I mean, there's no way going 'Hey! Hey everybody! My kid is gender neutral! I'm not telling you if it's a boy or a girl! Hey! Hey look how fucking open minded we are!' is gonna affect the child's upbringing. Nope. Definitely not.
I agree wholeheartedly.
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On May 10 2012 07:24 Kurr wrote:Show nested quote +On May 10 2012 07:22 hypercube wrote: LOL, he's gonna be fine. People are upset because their basic view of the world is challanged, not because they're worried about the kid. If you honestly think this "experiment" challenge's anyone's world view I don't even know what to tell you. Show nested quote +On May 10 2012 07:09 Thrasymachus725 wrote: The problem here is that the parents know what sex the infant was (male), and therefore were unconsciously biased against the norm... How stupid and embarassing would their experiment seem if their little boy grew up liking to play with trucks and wear boys clothes? Well they know that, so they would try very hard (even if they were unaware of it) to make this child a social anomaly. Children are very good at picking up on subtle queues from their parents. When the little boy goes to pick out a bathing suit, and looks to mommy for guidance on his choice... and his mom gives a little sqeek of pleasure, or smiles when he goes for the sparkly pink thing, then the kid is going to think it is the "correct choice". In this way, this experiment is flawed from the ground up. Unless they could keep the PARENTS oblivious to the childs gender, this experiment is just a sick joke, where the parents (who obviously have no scientific background or idea of what they are doing) are working real hard to fuck up the childs social life in the future. Good post. These parents obviously want attention and to be proven right. That's not a good thing for the child.
This was my initial reaction to hearing the story the first time. People seem to be way more enthusiastic about breaking gender roles for kids when they're trying to get a boy to act like a typical girl, and to a smaller extent, when they're trying to get a girl to act like a typical boy.
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On May 10 2012 07:28 Thrasymachus725 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 10 2012 07:22 hypercube wrote: LOL, he's gonna be fine. People are upset because their basic view of the world is challanged, not because they're worried about the kid. Or the view that children who are different get tortured in school?
Lots of kids get tortured in school. The main reasons are lack of social skill and bad luck. If they choose his school wisely and are competent this will be a non-issue.
There are ways to truly fuck up your child's life, like emotional abuse or neglect. Or worse. And it happens to a lot of kids. Like hundreds of millions. Yet, we chose to focus on kid who seems to live in a healthy emotional environment, but his parents have some quirky views about sex and gender. I think that tells more about us than the parents.
The most important years of his development have been hindered by his parents desire to "fix the world".
And what kind of development would that be? Are you an expert on child development or do you just believe that being taught that they are girls or boys is important?
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Imagine your typical first grader, who sees a kid in a blouse and pants. Any chance that kid will not be made fun of? Of course it's nice to have parental support, but that won't save you from a class...and good luck teaching that first grade class that even though the kid looks like he's crossdressing, it's perfectly normal.
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while i disagree about forcing your kid to like stereotypical things just because of the gender thing, i think this might've gone a bit extreme but hey, they're the parents and they probably know what's best for the kid, if he is happy, then who are we to judge.
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This kid is going to hate his parents when he realizes what they did.
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On May 10 2012 07:32 Eppa! wrote: More like letting someone out of a padded cell and letting them run free for better and worse. Saying it will ruin the kids childhood is silly, animals are genetically very adaptive and normative. I ran around naked and play with soft animals. I had no concept of gender until I was 8+ now I am social apt and very normal.
A lot of kids have a gender neutral early childhood these days sex!=gender.
I don't think your sex is just a physical phenomenon. Boys and girls have different needs and they will express them themselves. You can't set one free by forcing him to be, it just works if you let him be. The parents are struck with an idea and they try to bring this idea to life through their own child, talk about mad scientists.
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On May 10 2012 07:43 SharkSpider wrote:Show nested quote +On May 10 2012 07:24 Kurr wrote:On May 10 2012 07:22 hypercube wrote: LOL, he's gonna be fine. People are upset because their basic view of the world is challanged, not because they're worried about the kid. If you honestly think this "experiment" challenge's anyone's world view I don't even know what to tell you. On May 10 2012 07:09 Thrasymachus725 wrote: The problem here is that the parents know what sex the infant was (male), and therefore were unconsciously biased against the norm... How stupid and embarassing would their experiment seem if their little boy grew up liking to play with trucks and wear boys clothes? Well they know that, so they would try very hard (even if they were unaware of it) to make this child a social anomaly. Children are very good at picking up on subtle queues from their parents. When the little boy goes to pick out a bathing suit, and looks to mommy for guidance on his choice... and his mom gives a little sqeek of pleasure, or smiles when he goes for the sparkly pink thing, then the kid is going to think it is the "correct choice". In this way, this experiment is flawed from the ground up. Unless they could keep the PARENTS oblivious to the childs gender, this experiment is just a sick joke, where the parents (who obviously have no scientific background or idea of what they are doing) are working real hard to fuck up the childs social life in the future. Good post. These parents obviously want attention and to be proven right. That's not a good thing for the child. This was my initial reaction to hearing the story the first time. People seem to be way more enthusiastic about breaking gender roles for kids when they're trying to get a boy to act like a typical girl, and to a smaller extent, when they're trying to get a girl to act like a typical boy. Gender roles already come half-broken for girls in Western nations, don't they? Women are allowed to wear 'male' clothing such as pants and shirts, without color restrictions, and it's exciting and good that women want to participate in sports or male-dominated school subjects/career paths.
Feminine boys/men get a lot more crap.
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Lots of kids get tortured in school. The main reasons are lack of social skill and bad luck.
Lots of kids get tortured in school because lots of children are cruel little monsters when establishing a social hierarchy. Not because the victims lack social skills and have bad luck.
If they chose his school wisely and are competent this will be a non-issue.
Hahahaha no. "Competent" parents have little to no power whatsoever over how their child is treated by his peers. Or her peers. Or, its peers! Choosing a school, being engaged with the teachers and administration, oversight of who the child is friends with, it means very little. Children form and enforce their own social hierarchies independent of and usually in defiance of adults, even at an early age.
There are ways to truly fuck up your child's life, like emotional abuse or neglect. Or worse. And it happens to a lot of kids. Like hundreds of millions. Yet, we chose to focus on kid who seems to live in a healthy emotional environment, but his parents have some quirky views about sex and gender. I think that tells more about us than the parents.
It tells us more about some people's wish to show off their ideology the way most people would a flashy new car with a complete lack of regard (borne of arrogance) for the social well-being and development of an internal identity of the child.
And what kind of development would that be? Are you an expert on child development or do you just believe that being taught that they are girls or boys is important?
Development as an individual human being with a firm sense of self-identity that can stand up to the social rigors of childhood and the transition to adulthood.
Are you an expert on child development, or are you just asking that question because you think what these parents are doing is okay and you don't have a real argument as to why?
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This seems stupid to me, maybe it has good intentions but I'm afraid the execution seems to be disconnected from reality somewhat.
I don't see how cargo pants are hyper masculine.
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On May 10 2012 07:50 Severedevil wrote:Show nested quote +On May 10 2012 07:43 SharkSpider wrote:On May 10 2012 07:24 Kurr wrote:On May 10 2012 07:22 hypercube wrote: LOL, he's gonna be fine. People are upset because their basic view of the world is challanged, not because they're worried about the kid. If you honestly think this "experiment" challenge's anyone's world view I don't even know what to tell you. On May 10 2012 07:09 Thrasymachus725 wrote: The problem here is that the parents know what sex the infant was (male), and therefore were unconsciously biased against the norm... How stupid and embarassing would their experiment seem if their little boy grew up liking to play with trucks and wear boys clothes? Well they know that, so they would try very hard (even if they were unaware of it) to make this child a social anomaly. Children are very good at picking up on subtle queues from their parents. When the little boy goes to pick out a bathing suit, and looks to mommy for guidance on his choice... and his mom gives a little sqeek of pleasure, or smiles when he goes for the sparkly pink thing, then the kid is going to think it is the "correct choice". In this way, this experiment is flawed from the ground up. Unless they could keep the PARENTS oblivious to the childs gender, this experiment is just a sick joke, where the parents (who obviously have no scientific background or idea of what they are doing) are working real hard to fuck up the childs social life in the future. Good post. These parents obviously want attention and to be proven right. That's not a good thing for the child. This was my initial reaction to hearing the story the first time. People seem to be way more enthusiastic about breaking gender roles for kids when they're trying to get a boy to act like a typical girl, and to a smaller extent, when they're trying to get a girl to act like a typical boy. Gender roles already come half-broken for girls in Western nations, don't they? Women are allowed to wear 'male' clothing such as pants and shirts, without color restrictions, and it's exciting and good that women want to participate in sports or male-dominated school subjects/career paths. Feminine boys/men get a lot more crap. Feminine boys/men afaik don't get a lot of crap. In fact, from what i've seen, they get laid a lot more often because they get close to so many girls.
'male' women stand out and tend to be rather isolated. It's true they don't receive any direct sort of discrimination, but they definitely don't fit in as well as the rest.
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im curious, is he the one who wants to wear the girls blouse or is it the parents? they made it sound like it was the parents but earlier it sounded like their whole thing was letting him wear whatever he wanted.
"As long as he has good relationships and good friends," she says, "then nothing else matters, does it?"
well that's mostly true. though i feel like she might still not be thinking it through the whole way
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what? wait what bathroom will he use then, dont tell me "any" cause he's "gender neutral"...
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This is not a new experiment or something. There have been cultures in which they treat the kids gender neutral, I see nothing wrong here except that the parents are making a huge deal about this and are putting silly rules.
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On May 10 2012 07:56 sc2superfan101 wrote:im curious, is he the one who wants to wear the girls blouse or is it the parents? they made it sound like it was the parents but earlier it sounded like their whole thing was letting him wear whatever he wanted. Show nested quote + "As long as he has good relationships and good friends," she says, "then nothing else matters, does it?"
well that's mostly true. though i feel like she might still not be thinking it through the whole way They let him wear what he wants, so long as it's the same as what the parents want him to wear.
From reading the article it definitely sounds like the parents are deciding he's going to wear it.
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Another day, another story presenting sheer stupidity.
In no way are they doing themselves or their kid a favour. All they did was massage their "alternative" and pseudo intellectual egos. Kids will be kids regardless of what labels you put on them and at some point reality will always catch up with them, keeping them from it does more damage than good. It is ridiculous what an impact you can have on your child's life from a developmental perspective at such an age.
It's for cases like this social services should step in and declare the parents unfit to look after / have further children.
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On May 10 2012 07:53 DeepElemBlues wrote:Show nested quote +Lots of kids get tortured in school. The main reasons are lack of social skill and bad luck. Lots of kids get tortured in school because lots of children are cruel little monsters when establishing a social hierarchy. Not because the victims lack social skills and have bad luck.
Show nested quote + If they chose his school wisely and are competent this will be a non-issue. Hahahaha no. "Competent" parents have little to no power whatsoever over how their child is treated by his peers. Or her peers. Or, its peers! Choosing a school, being engaged with the teachers and administration, oversight of who the child is friends with, it means very little. Children form and enforce their own social hierarchies independent of and usually in defiance of adults, even at an early age.
They have a lot of influence on how the kid reacts to the challenges that come up. That in turn has an effect on how the situation develops.
Show nested quote +There are ways to truly fuck up your child's life, like emotional abuse or neglect. Or worse. And it happens to a lot of kids. Like hundreds of millions. Yet, we chose to focus on kid who seems to live in a healthy emotional environment, but his parents have some quirky views about sex and gender. I think that tells more about us than the parents. It tells us more about some people's wish to show off their ideology the way most people would a flashy new car with a complete lack of regard (borne of arrogance) for the social well-being and development of an internal identity of the child.
You weren't addressing my point, so I don't see why you quoted that part of my post. But yeah, I'm not sure about the parents' motivation. If they are truly attention whores who are using their kid for their 15 minutes of fame that's a problem. Not because they are hurting the child's development, but because they are using him.
Development as an individual human being with a firm sense of self-identity that can stand up to the social rigors of childhood and the transition to adulthood.
Are you an expert on child development, or are you just asking that question because you think what these parents are doing is okay and you don't have a real argument as to why?
No and I should have said that when I said that when I said "the kid's gonna be fine". But if you're making a statement that "The most important years of his development have been hindered" you absolutely need to say what you base that on. If it's your opinion don't make it sound like an authoritative statement.
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