Raising Children As Gender Neutral

[naomi24]

Paloma Faith says she is determined to raise her child, and any subsequent children she may give birth to, gender neutral, but how does that work? At some time the child is bound to discover that there are boys and there are girls – and that they are not the same - so when a child asks the question “What am I?”, what does the enlightened parent answer? Does she lie and say ‘You’re neither’, and if so is that, in effect, denying the child its true identity?

I’m inclined to think that in their determination to allow their children to ‘be who they are’, progressive parents are in danger of raising a generation of very confused people.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/paloma-faith-raising-child-gender-neutral-leyman-lahcine-refuses-to-reveal-sex-or-name-a8013776.html

[jackthehat]

No, sqad....... Him!

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/4886256/paloma-faith-husband-partner-leyman-lahcine/#

[ummmm]

Yes...I had playing out clothes, very similar to what would be considered boy clothes, and dresses which meant 'be on your best behaviour'

With mine....I wouldn't let my son go out in a dress but at home he could do what he wants.

[naomi24]

//She's just refusing to state the name and gender of her child to protect its privacy. //

If privacy is what she's after why say anything at all about the way she intends to raise the child?

[Zacs-Master]

I don’t think that example does anything to back up the claims that Paloma is doing anything sensational. I’ve posted two quotes from the woman herself explaining her view. Yet still you persist down this accusatory Avenue. Strange.

[NoMercy]

I wasn't referring to Paloma Faith. She didn't coin the phrase or start the craze of gender neutrality.

Apologies though for having an opinion. I'll pop back later to start a "What's For Dinner?" thread.

[murraymints]

chicken salad ! ;o)

[Cloverjo]

In the recent article I posted - which was about mixing work with family - the child wasn't the main point of it. Of course it had to be mentioned as that was half of the reason for the piece. She reiterated that she wasn't bringing it up to be gender neutral, just that she wasn't revealing its name or gender to the media. As I said before.

[Zacs-Master]

My comment was to Naomi, NoM.

[Sqad]

On one's AB profile, many members are noted to have not given their gender. Is that because they have been brought up "gender neutral" or that they are still not sure which gender they represent?
OR is it because they want to hide their gender, for some peculiar reason?

[Prudie]

I can see Paloma isn't taking this much beyond the clothes/toys level, my comment wasn't really about her but those who do take it to extremes and some googling of gender neutral parenting shows that those levels do exist.
As for Paloma and protecting privacy she has blown that out of the water - her child will be far more known for her announcement than if she'd said nothing.

[murraymints]

Sqad.. I'm all woman !! lol ;0) x

[Cloverjo]

Sqad, perhaps they haven't bothered, because they just want to ask and answer questions.
It's useful to know so people can talk about them with the corrrect pronoun, but they'll soon let everyone know if they've been addressed wrongly :)

[Cloverjo]

Prudie //As for Paloma and protecting privacy ... her child will be far more known for her announcement than if she'd said nothing.//

Paloma didn't make an announcement!

[Old_Geezer]

Doesn't have to be a peculiar reason. Not giving out personal information can be a general rule for privacy reasons.

Anyway when self identified you can't be sure anyone is telling the truth. For instance, I'm a six year old girl really.

[murraymints]

I can appreciate folk in the public eye wanting to shield their children from the glare.. difficult to do with the paps on the job !

[murraymints]

lol OG ..

[Prudie]

"Paloma Faith has stated she'll be raising her child as gender neutral"
"Speaking to the Mirror at the Q Awards, she explained her approach to gender neutral parenting involves..."

OK that's not an announcement

[Cloverjo]

I can't comment on the Mirror awards particularly as I didn't watch it. I'm just going by articles I've read since then.

[douglas9401]

Seems more gender balanced than neutral.

Not that I give a tuppeny one about what some noisy sort says.

[woofgang]

"On one's AB profile, many members are noted to have not given their gender. Is that because they have been brought up "gender neutral" or that they are still not sure which gender they represent?
OR is it because they want to hide their gender, for some peculiar reason?"
My reason is that I am a veteran of the internet from when it was green screens and bulletin boards. Declaring one's self to be female was an open invitation to be flamed, spammed and propositioned by spotty (I assume) faced teenaged (I assume) boys, so if you were female, it saved a lot of hassle to either just have a male online persona or at least not to declare one's self as female. Chatting on here, i make no secret of my gender but I have a habit of leaving profiles blank and adopting a non gender specific user name.....old habits die hard.