The parents of a kid in Toronto have decided to raise their child as a genderless being.
Not, apparently, because said child has asked for that. No, it’s simply because they have decided. They already have two children: sons named Jazz and Kio. And yes, as the Daily Mirror quite rightly points out, those names do sound a hell of a lot like the latest model hatchback you’d find at your local car yard.
Anyway, their most recent rugrat, Storm, is being raised with no gender bias, with no one apart from his/her parents (not surprisingly, they were there when he or she was born), siblings and midwives knowing if he/she is a he or a she and will probably be a prime target for the bullies that every school has. Because any child who is different is always going to be a prime target.
Apparently, he or she can decide what gender he or she wants to be somewhere down the track.
I have no problem with anyone living their best life, and embracing who they are. If someone is trans-gender, I have no doubt they have thought long and hard before making the decision to embrace the gender they identify with.
But why make someone “genderless”? A little girl can be a tomboy without being transgender; a little boy can enjoy playing with dolls without being transgender. Sometimes kids just go through a phase that they grow out of, sometimes it isn’t a phase and they don’t grow out of it. But indoctrination can have a lifelong impact: telling a child they are genderless could impact them for the rest of their lives.
Friends say the parents of Storm are quite normal, well-adjusted people, but I’m not so sure: dad David Stocker is a “progressive teacher” who wrote a textbook Math That Matters, which urges teachers to stop using everyday objects in maths questions and instead work with issues such as homophobia, poverty, child abuse and racial profiling to ‘spark discussion’ and increase students’ interest in ‘social justice advocacy’. Er, ok…I’m sure that’ll be a big help when you’re working out your household budget.
And the mother, Kathy Witterick, is homeschooling her eldest child Jazz. Well, she’s actually using a system she calls unschooling: where the child is taught something only when he asks about it.
Riiight.