NYT on “Gender-Creative” Children (Ithaca kid 'chooses' own gender at 8)

© National Review Online 2012. All Rights Reserved. ^ | 08/14/12 | By Nancy French

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Whenever I write about Ithaca (as I did in one of my memoirs), I invariably get e-mails asking, “Really?”

Really.

Because Ithaca is the City of Evil.

[Doogle]

child abuse!

[Behind Liberal Lines]

City of Evil and "Discussion of health, education, welfare, drugs, abortion, environment, housing, unions, employment, social security, religion, arts, humanity, sports, and other cultural and societal issues" ping:

[TribalPrincess2U]

I can imagine someone getting sued in the future.
Hint: Mommy, Daddy and maybe even a doctor.

[MEGoody]

Little boys don’t naturally want to play with trucks, and little girls aren’t naturally drawn to dolls

Obviously a philosophy developed by someone who has never had children nor been around them very much.

[SnakeDoctor]

So many liberties under attack ... but apparently not the freedom to irreparably and irrevocably scar your child.

Good grief, that’s gonna be one warped kid.

SnakeDoc

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Nah. Growing up in Ithaca that kid will be so brainwashed [s]he will think [s]he’s normal. The lawsuit will come against whatever poor corporation hires the kid when [s]he’s all grown up.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

My first instinct was to say how frightfully sad this was, as both my sons exhibited very male characteristics after infancy, and I can't imagine them "exploring" female gender characteristics at all. But after thinking about it a bit, I imagined a scenario where this wasn't the case: where, after infancy, a child exhibits male and female characteristics in equal measure.

How does the non-liberal parent deal with that kind of thing? I have tremendous empathy for someone in that situation. I mean, what the hell do you do if you have a "Pat" on your hands?

[Mr. K]

I would like to know where this idiot ‘parent’ was educated

My daughters shocked me with surprisingly feminine characteristics at an early age

For example- I was clothing shopping with my 4 year old (who could barely talk) and pointed to a mannequin and asked if she liked the dress, and she said “yeah- and just look at those SHOES” - I barely noticed it had shoes

All my girls have a thing for shoes and jewelry at an early age

I had to get my sister in law to help me when I went shopping for christmas present so they didnt always end up with remote control trucks and stuff- she suggested stuff I never would have thought of and my girls usually loved it

[JSDude1]

How do you say: “Mom and dad are crazy, thanks for ruining my life, in 8 year old speech”?

[UCANSEE2]

My daughters shocked me with surprisingly feminine characteristics at an early age All my girls have a thing for shoes and jewelry at an early age

Gee..... maybe all your girls have something in common .

[Boogieman]

What do you do? Well, what do you do if your child likes to play with fire, or kick dogs, or pull the neighbor girl’s pigtail? Isn’t that a big part of parenting, teaching your kid that some behavior is inappropriate, and that they can’t do it even if they feel like they want to?

[chaos_5]

”I imagined a scenario where this wasn't the case: where, after infancy, a child exhibits male and female characteristics in equal measure.

How does the non-liberal parent deal with that kind of thing?”

I’m not a parent so maybe my opinion doesn’t count for much, but I have an opinion on this. I see very little harm in allowing both sexes to explore what may be considered typical gender roles of the other. That is, let girls take apart their toys and play with trucks. Don’t worry about teaching boys how to cook or sew or play with the doll house.

I do feel the line must be drawn at physical appearance. Letting your little one dress like a transvestite will only lead to problems. If they look like a freak then they will be treated like a freak and grow up thinking they are a freak. Simply trying to tell society to not pick on the freak is not a viable solution. Bullying and such is part of the way we establish social hierarchy and something that goes to the primal core of behavior and can’t simply be stopped because we pass some kind of bully law.

In other words, I don’t think there is anything wrong with letting little boys and girls do things that are considered boy or girl activities. At worst, each may learn a new and useful skill. BUT, it’s wrong IMO to let a little boy dress and play like a girl and then reinforce the idea that they are a girl in a boy’s body.

It seems to me that there is a hidden agenda to blur the lines between genders to force confusion of sexual identity. That is, if you can get a boys gender shifted far enough towards the female side then you can convince him his sexual orientation must follow (the inverse for girls, but this seems to be less of an issue). Therein lays the deception and peril insofar as gender blending is concerned.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

What do you do? Well, what do you do if your child likes to play with fire, or kick dogs, or pull the neighbor girl’s pigtail? Isn’t that a big part of parenting, teaching your kid that some behavior is inappropriate, and that they can’t do it even if they feel like they want to?

Hmm.

I'm talking about innocuous behavior, like playing with trucks, playing with Barbies, liking movies about Lego Ninjas, liking movies about princesses . . . that sort of thing. Your examples are ones of anti-social behavior, which you would correct as inappropriate because it may cause physical harm.

There's nothing inherently wrong about a little boy liking a princess movie, other than the fact that it's kind of light in the loafers.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

BUT, it’s wrong IMO to let a little boy dress and play like a girl and then reinforce the idea that they are a girl in a boy’s body.

Bingo, and

It seems to me that there is a hidden agenda to blur the lines between genders to force confusion of sexual identity.

Bingo.

I have empathy for Joe Lunchpail parents who may find themselves in this situation, but I have no empathy at all, and perhaps even some contempt, for parents who deliberately set this agenda and create this environment for their kids. It's wholly against nature. I've seen very liberal parents very chagrinned when they tried to get their boys to play with, say, Barbies - and the boys ended up ripping the heads off of the dolls and then using the headless bodies as weapons.

Nature, it seems, knows what the Hell She's doing.

[Boogieman]

Maybe not, but as soon as it reaches the point where the little boy says “I want to wear a dress”, it IS antisocial behavior.

[Chode]

feh... we'll see this kid's name in the paper some day

[metmom]

The claim is that children unwittingly learn certain gender signifiers that dictate their behavior. Little boys don’t naturally want to play with trucks, and little girls aren’t naturally drawn to dolls, if unsullied by eager parents who try to indoctrinate their children with heterosexist ideas about “gender.”

Biggest load of crap I ever heard. People who said that never had one of each.

Kids are hard wired. When my son was not even a year old, one of his first six words was *vroom*. He was obsessed with his older sister's toy car which she virtually ignored.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

feh... we'll see this kid's name in the paper some day

Which name?

[Chode]

what ever name it goes by when it grows up...