Nine Articles

Submitted by Mastodon on Sat, 2014-02-15 06:32
  1. UK: Universities struggling to cope with 'lad culture'
  2. Exposed: Obama Blocks White House Council on Boys and Men
  3. Nicki Minaj apologizes for using Malcolm X, racial slur in cover art
  4. The (Silent) War On Men 
  5. What would life be like if women really did rule the world?
  6. NOW Demands Wall Street Journal Fire Columnist James Taranto for Promoting 'Rape Culture'
  7. At least 9 penis amputations after traditional circumcision
  8. Parents raise their son as a boy AND a girl so he won't 'grow up aggressive'
  9. There’s no excuse for anti-feminism 
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About this article: Parents raise son as a boy and a girl

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2559748/If-Max-wants-wear-pink-tutu-fairy-wings-Parents-raise-son-boy-AND-girl-wont-grow-aggressive.html

From my perspective there are two concerns here. First is the raising a gender neutral child and second, that the parents have characterized masculinity as "aggressive" and "bad".

I'll start with my thoughts on raising a gender neutral child. The parents in the article don't really seem to be doing it to the full extent. They have given their son the male name "Max" and he seems to be dressed as a typical little boy...So my comment will pertain to parents doing it to the fullest extent

I beleive gender-roles mostly stem from biology, so I am not one who is trying to fight them. I'm not even fighting for gender equality because I don't see men and women as equals. However, if one is the type of MRA who believes gender roles are social construct and we need to get rid of them, then I don't see how you could have a problem with raising gender neutral kids. After all that is the epitome of treating everyone equally and would fulfill the perceived need to get rid of all social construct that some MRAs think are so bad.

We could give children gender neutral names, dress them in a way that does not reveal gender, develop gender neutral pronouns and get rid of all gender identifying terms like "brother" or "sister". Even teachers would have no idea if child was a boy or girl. Keep gender of the child completely ambiguous. If this became the cultural norm, I'm unsure if it would do harm or not (makes for an interesting discussion). However, In the end, I believe biology would win out, and the majority of boys and girls would fall into what we currently consider traditional gender roles. You would still have more men entering STEM and dangerouse professions and more women entering nursing, teaching or SAHM. If they are heterosexual you will still see men willing to pay for sexual companionship, and hypergamouse women. It's just how biology works.

As far as the second issue of describing only male characteristics as "bad". I don't agree. I think both genders have general characteristics which have pros and cons depending on how they are applied. Aggressiveness should never be suppressed, just channeled properly.

So my conclusion is I don't see much benefit in making an effort to raise gender neutral children. Probably because it isn't currently the cultural norm, and I also think there is some benefit in being proud about one's own gender, and I don't think suppressing gender identity will make much difference once puberty hits. However, all children should grow up knowing they will be loved and accepted no matter what they prefer and have every opportunity to fulfill the roles they want.

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Submitted by Kris on Tue, 2014-02-18 07:07