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Canadian couple Kathy Witterick and David Stocker are raising their 4 month old, named Storm, genderless. The only people who know the child's gender are the midwives who helped deliver the baby and the baby's 2 older brothers, 5-year-old Jazz and 2-year old Kio.
Many people are confused by their choice but Witterick explained in an email to friends and family: “We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now — a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place?).”
The couple hope to give their children the freedom to choose what they want to be without the constraints that society sets on males and females. The two older boys get to decide what they want to wear and how they'd like to wear their hair. Jazz loves the colour pink and chooses to wear his hair in braids while Kio loves anything purple and has chosen to keep his hair at chin length.
Their parents try not to influence their choices in any way and encourage the boys to challenge gender norms set by society. The thinking with Storm is that if they don't tell people what the gender is then they won't be able to judge Storm based on his or her gender but by the person he or she is.
Others feel that their decision is alienating and that it opens Storm up to bullying in school.
What do you think? Would you raise your child genderless?
Many people are confused by their choice but Witterick explained in an email to friends and family: “We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now — a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place?).”
The couple hope to give their children the freedom to choose what they want to be without the constraints that society sets on males and females. The two older boys get to decide what they want to wear and how they'd like to wear their hair. Jazz loves the colour pink and chooses to wear his hair in braids while Kio loves anything purple and has chosen to keep his hair at chin length.
Their parents try not to influence their choices in any way and encourage the boys to challenge gender norms set by society. The thinking with Storm is that if they don't tell people what the gender is then they won't be able to judge Storm based on his or her gender but by the person he or she is.
Others feel that their decision is alienating and that it opens Storm up to bullying in school.
What do you think? Would you raise your child genderless?
